National Association of Realtors confirms $418M commission settlement

The National Association of Realtors confirmed an agreement that would end litigation of claims brought on behalf of home sellers related to broker commissions. The agreement would resolve claims against NAR, over 1M NAR members, all state/territorial and local Realtor associations, all association-owned Multiple Listing Services, and all brokerages with an NAR member as principal that had a residential transaction volume in 2022 of $2B or below, the agency said in a statement. Under the terms of the agreement, NAR would pay $418M over approximately four years. NAR has also agreed to put in place a new MLS rule prohibiting offers of broker compensation on the MLS. This would mean that offers of broker compensation could not be communicated via the MLS. “Two critical achievements of this resolution are the release of most NAR members and many industry stakeholders from liability in these matters and the fact that cooperative compensation remains a choice for consumers when buying or selling a home. NAR also secured in the agreement a mechanism for nearly all brokerage entities that had a residential transaction volume in 2022 that exceeded $2 billion and MLSs not wholly owned by Realtor associations to obtain releases efficiently if they choose to use it,” the agency added. . Companies in the home realtor space include Redfin (RDFN), Zillow (Z, ZG), Opendoor Technologies (OPEN), Re/Max Holdings (RMAX), Compass (COMP) and CoStar Group (CSGP).