Real estate agents generally felt they were ready to tackle the changes in business practices outlined in the legislation. National Association of Realtors According to the recently announced NAR Commission lawsuit settlement agreement, Stevens Summer 2024 Real Estate Agent Survey.
This is the seventh edition of the quarterly survey of private investment banks. Responses to the latest survey were collected Aug. 9-23. The NAR payments business practice changes went into effect nationwide on Aug. 17. The report was written and prepared by John Campbell and Jonathan Bass.
Eighty-five percent of real estate agents surveyed said they felt “very prepared” or “somewhat prepared” for these changes, and 90% of what Stevens calls “traditional” agents. RE/MAX, Anywhere, Keller Williams, compass and Douglas Elliman — said they were completely or somewhat prepared. This compares with 78% of agents at so-called “disruptive” brokerages. eXp Real Estate, A genuine middleman, Fathom Real Estate and Home Smart.
Overall, fewer than 4% of agents reported feeling unprepared or having no knowledge of the practice changes.
The majority of agents (82%) said their brokers had prepared them completely or mostly for the changes. But again, a higher percentage of agents from more traditional firms (86%) said their brokers had prepared them adequately than agents from disruptive firms (76%). Only 6% of all agents surveyed said their firms had prepared them little or at all.
The survey results also showed that more real estate agents are optimistic about the direction of the housing market, with the report’s authors citing lower mortgage rates and Federal Reserve System The base interest rate is scheduled to be lowered later this month.
Overall, 9% of real estate agents surveyed expect the housing market to “significantly improve” over the next 12 months, up 5 percentage points from the previous quarter, while 42% of real estate agents expect the market to “moderately improve,” also a 5-point improvement quarter-over-quarter.
Despite this growing optimism, about 20% of real estate agents expect the market to get “slightly worse” over the next 12 months.
When asked, “What do you see as the biggest threat to your industry?” 39% of agents from disruptive brokers responded, “An increase in consumers buying and selling homes without an agent,” while the most common answer among agents from traditional companies was the economic downturn (25%).
Interest rates were a popular choice among all agents, but the two cohorts also differed on interest rates. Department of Justice About 18% of agents at traditional brokerage firms cited the possibility of the DOJ banning collaborative compensation as their biggest threat, compared to 0% of agents at disruptive brokerage firms.
Additionally, despite the recent news, only 5% of all agents surveyed said commission compression is the biggest threat to the industry. Still, roughly 86% of agents believe they will see some level of commission compression in the next 12 months.
Compared to previous surveys, Stevens reported that commission negotiations appear to be happening more frequently, with 16% of agents reporting a notable change, up 9 percentage points from the fall 2023 survey.
“Given how extensive and high-profile the industry’s legal battles have been to date, we expected to see an increase in consumer involvement on fees, but were surprised to see that it is already at more than half,” the report said.
Given the removal of buyer broker compensation offers from the MLS and agents’ dissatisfaction with NAR, more than half of those surveyed said they see less value in the MLS system and about 60% said they see less value in being an NAR member.
When it comes to listing portals, roughly 30% of agents report using at least one site listing or seller-side agent advertising product. This includes: CosterHomes.com Membership, JiroListing Showcase or Real Estate Agent.com‘s Listing Toolkit. Additionally, 25% of agents who don’t use these products say they are considering doing so.
“We believe this response rate could translate into a promising potential pipeline for the portals,” the report states. “Each portal presents some pretty compelling return-on-investment calculations that support the idea that these products could one day become must-haves (especially if competition for listings increases following industry changes).”
While the report states that about 25 percent of agents “only represent a small portion of the market,” this represents a $2 billion annual business opportunity, based on the calculation that 25 percent of NAR’s 1.5 million members (375,000 agents) work for $500 a month.
Among agents surveyed, Realtor.com remains the preferred portal among them, with more than half saying they would recommend Realtor.com to their clients, but that’s down from about 66% in Stevens’ first quarterly survey.
In contrast, Homes.com has grown in popularity among real estate agents, with about 20% of those surveyed saying they would recommend the site to their clients, up from about 2% in the Winter 2023 survey. Despite having the most web traffic, only 26% of real estate agents said they would recommend their clients use Zillow.
