Great news for Seattle home sellers (and buyers). Agent commission rates will drop. (sale)

[usernametaken]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-bu...141700971.html

For decades, there’s been a standard for paying these agents: a commission of between 5% and 6% of the home’s sale price, covered by the seller and split between the two agents.

Commission rates are significantly lower in many other countries. In Britain, they are just above 1%, while in Singapore, the Netherlands and Denmark, they hover between 2% and 3%, according to a study by investment firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The homeowners who sued in federal court in Missouri said the NAR, through its rules on agent compensation, conspired to artificially inflate commissions paid to real estate agents.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/econo...ent/index.html

By some estimates, real estate commissions are expected to fall 25% to 50%, according to TD Cowen Insights.

[Diana Holbrook]

Well, FWIW, it's still undetermined exactly how it will impact us here for the long term.

NWMLS had already updated some forms and practices to adjust for changes from these lawsuits... this latest NAR settlement does not automatically affect us directly, because our MLS is not run through or connected to the NAR. One does not have to be a member of the NAR here. It's optional.

Who will really be helped or hurt by these changes is not yet clear!

Snapshot of their statement from Friday attached.

[seattleguide]

Confirming what the person above said, the NAR does not own our MLS in Washington state and has no say over what agents charge in our state.

The Northwest MLS started making changes years ago in anticipation of this lawsuit including providing seller disclosures making it clear how payment works and posting the commissions publicly on Zillow, Redfin and other sites.

Sellers have literally always had a choice in how much they pay agents in Washington. Different brokerages/agents have always offered different commissions, commissions have always been negotiable, and sellers have always had the option to pay the buyer brokers commission or not. There are plenty of agents who have been charging a 1% listing fee for years.

BTW in countries like Britain real estate agents are paid a combination of base salary + commission which is different than our system where real estate agents are only paid commission and not provided any base or benefits.