Fact vs. Fiction: One Year After the NAR Lawsuit

Fact vs. Fiction: One Year After the NAR Lawsuit

You’ve likely heard over the past year about how the National Association of Realtors (NAR) lost a lawsuit, which forced rule changes around how buyers pay their agents. If you haven’t, just know that this time last year it was BIG real estate news. And like any big change, it sparked a flood of headlines — and, in true headline fashion, plenty of salacious claims about how buying and selling homes would “never be the same.”

A year later, I thought it’d be a good time (as your real estate resource) to check in on what’s actually happened and keep you in the loop. This isn’t about “I told you so,” but boy — there’s a lot to unpack. To save time, here are the best ones:

What We Were Told:
All listings are available online, so in the era of the internet and online portals, working with (and paying for) a buyer’s agent isn’t necessary.

Reality One Year Later:
Despite rule changes, the industry adapted — and private listings still exist. Simply put: not every seller wants to go fully public, whether for privacy or a dozen other reasons. Agents (like me) still have access to Private Exclusives—off-market listings you won’t find scrolling Zillow (despite their attempts to change that). And let’s be honest: finding the property is just the starting point. It’s everything that comes after where buyers need the most help.

What We Were Told:
A larger percentage of buyers would skip representation to save money and negotiate better deals (sans fees).

Reality One Year Later:
As of today, 86–88% of homebuyers are still using an agent — the exact same percentage as years past. Over 90% say the process would be very stressful without one. So much for buyers ditching representation…

What We Were Told:
Starting August 17th, 2024 (around this time last year), buyers that want an agent will now have to pay their agent’s commission out of pocket.

Reality One Year Later:
Commissions have always been negotiable. They still are. And in reality, most buyers are still getting a large portion of their agent’s fee covered by sellers — meaning they’re paying little to nothing out of pocket for representation, despite the changes.

What We Were Told:
Sellers would stop using co-op fees to cover buyer-agent commissions since the old rules were gone.

Reality One Year Later:
Sellers still see offering buyer-agent commissions as one of the best tools to sell faster and for more. It was never about the rulebook — it’s always been about attracting buyers. And there’s zero sign this has declined since last August.

So What About Real Estate Fees Overall?

The lawyers argued that removing NAR’s rules would “save buyers billions.” Their pitch was simple: commissions would drop, buyers could shop for cheaper representation, and sellers wouldn’t need to pay buyer-agent fees anymore — supposedly passing those savings on to the buyer. Sounds good in a courtroom, right?

The facts:

• Commissions didn’t go down in 2025 — they went up.
  
  

• 2024 average: ~5.32% total commission (2.58% to the buyer’s agent)
  
  

• 2025 average: ~5.44% total commission (2.67% to the buyer’s agent)
  
  

And the lawyers who made those promises? They walked away with over $300 million in fees. Buyers didn’t save billions. They saved nothing.

My Take:
What I’ve seen over the past year is simple. Buyers still want representation (just like they always have), and sellers still know that selling a home is a meaningless exercise until a buyer is ready to pull out their checkbook and make it happen. Offering an incentive to cover representation costs (yes, the thing they still want) for buyers who are draining savings on down payments, shelling out tens of thousands in closing fees and taxes, and paying record-high prices at mortgage rates we haven’t seen in 20 years — back when homes cost a fraction of what they do now — is still a tradeoff worth making.

Lawsuit or not, that hasn’t changed. And the promises of a windfall? They didn’t go to the consumer — they went to the litigators and lobbyists. Like they say: the song may change, but the melody stays the same.