DoJ Ready to Pounce on National Association of Realtors
The WSJ has news that the Department of Justice is poised to launch an anti-trust action against the National Association of Realtors. The crux of the case involves incumbent brokers protecting the industry from new forms of online real estate brokerages who hope to cut costs by taking a lower commission but by getting their agents to sell more houses in less time. The quintessential example of the new guard is ZipRealty.
The price of real estate has risen dramatically over the past decade and has far outpaced gains in the stock market. While the price of houses has gone up, the commission paid to real estate agents has stayed relatively fixed at between five and six percent. That means the real estate agent that home seller’s pick is becoming a larger and larger financial decision.
The anti-trust case is mostly about listings data. The larger brokerages want to restrict access to it and their Multiple Listings Service (MLS). The online brokerages wanted to offer easy access to it, as it is an efficient means of generating leads on the home buyer side.
Inman has a three part series: [Part One | Part Two | Part Three]
