Newscasts - Realtors settlement could lower cost of home sales

Re/Max Holdings

15/03/2024 18:28

Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_g9ul7x5p&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2024:newsml_RW840615032024RP1_930&pageId=Newscasts
Source: 'Reuters - Business videos'

Description: The National Association of Realtors agreed to resolve antitrust
litigation accusing brokerages of inflating sales commissions, a settlement
likely to bring major changes and lower costs when people buy and sell homes.
Lisa Bernhard has more.
Short Link: https://refini.tv/3VCI1mX

Video Transcript:

A major legal settlement on Friday has potentially made buying and selling a
home a lot cheaper. The National Association of Realtors – a powerful
trade group that has long set guidelines for home sales – has agreed to
pay $418 million in damages to homeowners who sued the organization and
brokerages for conspiring to keep real estate commissions artificially high.
Key to the settlement: the elimination of the group’s decades-old rules
on broker commissions. Home sellers had objected to the longstanding practice
of paying a combined 5% to 6% commission for both their own agents and for
buyers' agents. The changes, expected to start mid-July, should make it easier
for buyers to negotiate fees with their own agents or use no agents at all.
That could also spur more home sales by lowering commissions by thousands of
dollars, a benefit to less-wealthy individuals and families struggling with
inflationary pressures or being priced out of their neighborhoods. Shares of
several brokerages, including Douglas Elliman and Re/Max, fell after the
settlement was announced