By Alex Veiga, Associated Press
Thinking of buying a home with the help of a real estate agent? You can no longer take it for granted that a seller will cover the cost of your agent’s commission.
Home sellers have traditionally offered a blanket commission to a buyer’s agent when they listed their home on the market. But that will no longer be allowed as of this weekend, when various changes to U.S. real estate industry practices are set to take effect.
A homebuyer may still try to negotiate such an offer from the seller. But if they decline, that would leave the homebuyer on the hook for paying for their agent’s services.
The National Association of Realtors is behind the policy changes, which stem from its $418 million settlement earlier this year of federal class-action lawsuits that claimed U.S. homeowners were forced to pay artificially inflated real estate agent commissions when they sold their home.
The new rules, apply to brokers and agents representing clients looking to buy or sell a home advertised on a multiple listing service, or MLS, affiliated with the NAR.
They boil down to two significant changes: Blanket offers of compensation on behalf of sellers to buyers’ agents will no longer be included in listings posted on the MLS, though they can still be made through other means. And homebuyers will be required to sign detailed representation agreements when they hire an agent.
But the changes are likely to have the biggest impact on home shoppers — especially first-time buyers already facing elevated mortgage rates, a shortage of properties on the market and record-high home prices. They will now have to factor in the cost of hiring an agent if a seller isn’t willing to cover it.
Removing Buyer-Agent Compensation Offers From Home Listings
Traditionally, a buyer’s agent’s commission has been paid by the seller. Agents who work with homeowners to market and sell their home would list the property on an MLS and include how much their client was offering to pay a buyer’s agent, a practice known as an offer of “cooperative compensation.” That’s when a seller agrees in advance to offer a commission on the sale of their home to be split between their agent and the buyer’s representative, typically around 2.5%-3% each.
The home sellers behind the lawsuits against the NAR and others argued sellers have had little choice but to offer to cover the buyer’s agent’s compensation in order to ensure their listing was shown to as many prospective buyers as possible.
To address this, homes listed on an MLS will no longer include a seller’s offer to cover the cost of a buyer’s agent’s services. However, they will still be allowed to advertise them practically anywhere else, including the agent’s own website, a display at an open house, or when communicating directly with an agent representing a prospective homebuyer.
Sellers may still elect to pay for a buyer’s agent’s compensation, but without the pressure of making a public, blanket offer on the MLS. Some may opt to pocket the savings and only cover their own agent’s commission.
Will Commissions Come Down?
It’s unclear whether the policy changes will spur sellers or buyers to negotiate lower broker commissions, and whether they’ll succeed if they do.
Buyer-agent commissions have eased somewhat this year: The average buyer’s agent commission fell nationally from 2.62% at the beginning of the year to 2.55% through July 14, according to an analysis by Redfin. However, because home prices have kept rising this year, the average commission paid to a buyer’s agent in dollar terms has risen about 1.7% since January to $15,377.
