The big question: Have agent commissions changed since the settlement?

The headlines were predicting massive declines in real estate agent commissions — some even expected home prices to fall as a result, but a year after the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement went into effect the data is painting a different picture. 

Prior to September 30, 2024, a little over a month after the business practice changes went into effect, the average real estate agent commission was 2.65%, according to data from RealTrends Consulting. Since then, the data shows that the average agent commission has risen to 2.71% — a nominal .06 percentage point increase. 

RealTrends Consulting is not the only one reporting these results. Data released in May 2025 by Redfin found that agent commissions were on the rise for homes sold for less than $500,000, rising from 2.42% in Q3 2024 to 4.49% in Q1 2025. 

Anywhere Real Estate is also reporting little to no change in agent commissions. According to the firm’s Q2 2025 earnings report, Anywhere Brands, the company’s franchise group, recorded an average commission of 2.41% for the quarter, down from 2.42% a year ago. The firm’s owned brokerage operation, Anywhere Advisors, recorded an average commission rate of 2.38% for the quarter, up slightly from the 2.36% rate recorded in Q2 2024.  

During Anywhere’s Q1 2025 earnings call, on which the company also reported little to no annual change in agent commissions, CEO Ryan Schneider said that the changes to agent commission rates were less than what the firm had predicted when crafting its 2025 budget. 

“We remain confident in our proactive approach to change and how our agents and franchise have successfully navigated these ships, and consistently demonstrated their value to consumers,” Schnieder said during the April 2025 call. 

Up in the Greater Boston area, Linda O’Koniewski said the agents at her firm have seen an “insignificant” amount of change to their commissions. 

“Listing commissions are up 0.02% and buyside is down 0.03%, so if they were trying to achieve overall lower commissions, this hasn’t really caused any change,” the broker-owner of Leading Edge Real Estate said. 

Analysts got it wrong

Although industry critics were hoping to see a sizable decline in agent commission rates due to the business practice changes outlined in the settlement, when it comes to their balance sheets, brokerages are grateful for the lack of change. 

An analysis by real estate accounting firm AccountTECH published in June 2024, found that without changing their expenses, 79% of brokerages would be unprofitable if the typical agent commission fell to 2%. If commissions fell to 2.5%, 60% of firms would be unprofitable. However, instead of falling into the red over the past year, AccountTECH’s May 2025 EBITDA Margin Index published in July 2025, was at 3.4962%, higher than it was a year ago prior to the business practice changes going into effect. 

At United Real Estate, company president Rick Haase, said he has seen similar trends.

“Going into this year, the $60 million question has been, ‘What’s the financial impact?’” Haase said. “We invested millions in the process of training our agents and creating content to make sure that all of our agents were in the loop, but I just completed an evaluation of the company pre and post-rule changes and the impact on our company financially has been negligible. Of course, our agents have had to put in a lot of work, but once the buyers understand all the things their agent is doing to help them consummate the sale, our agents have had no problem justifying their value for the services they are providing.” 

Agents are paid ‘what they are worth’

Although little to no change on average commission rates has occurred in the past year, James Dwiggins, the co-CEO of NextHome, still sees the changes and the increase in negotiations between an agent and their client as a good thing. 

“It’s actually a positive because agents are being paid what they’re worth,” Dwiggins said. “If you suck at articulating your value, and you only charge the buyer 1%, that’s all you’re getting. You’re being paid what you’re worth.” 

O’Koniewski is seeing similar trends with her agents.

“Agents who have always been top performers and who are good negotiators are getting paid the same rate they were before,” she said. “Newer agents or ones who are reluctant to pushback or who are just amiable people, they are sometimes making less than they were before.” 

While O’Koniewski has heard a few stories from the early days of the business practice changes where buyer’s agents did not get paid because they didn’t get a buyer representation agreement signed and just assumed that the listing agent would split their commission with them only to find out otherwise, she said these stories are the exception and not the rule.

“People were sloppy and hadn’t figured things out yet, but we are not seeing that anymore — they all learned the hard way,” O’Koniewski said. 

Despite the occasional bump, it’s clear that agent commissions have not suffered the impact many feared they would.