A federal jury ruled on Tuesday that the powerful National Association of Realtors and several large brokerages had conspired to artificially inflate the commissions paid to real estate agents, a decision that could radically alter the home-buying process in the United States.
The realtors’ group and brokerages were ordered to pay damages of nearly $1.8 billion. The verdict allows the court to issue treble damages, which means they could swell to more than $5 billion.
Will update with non-paywalled link when one becomes available.
Aren’t they usually around 6% total commission, split between the selling and purchasing agent? Unless you bought a house that’s north of a million, that’s a bit much.
In many places of the US, the average selling price is $1M+.
I live in the SF Bay area, most houses are easily $1.5m