Realtor association settles claim, drops 6% commission

For decades, Realtors have earned a standard 6% commission, split between the buyer’s agent and seller’s agent at 3% each. That standard, however, is out the window now that the National Association of Realtors agreed to settle a claim stating that it conspired to keep commissions high and forced sellers to pay the commission for the buyer’s agent.

The new commission system will allow both agents to negotiate their commission separately, a move that advocates say will benefit both sellers and buyers in the long run—”eventually lowering agent commissions by tens of billions of dollars a year,” said Stephen Brobeck, senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, D.C.

Pending acceptance by a federal court, the changes will go into effect in July. In total, NAR will pay $418 million, but it will wipe out the $1.8 billion verdict handed down to NAR and other named brokerages by a Kansas City jury in October 2023.