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Each week on The Download, Inman’s Christy Murdock takes a deeper look at the top-read stories of the week to give you what you’ll need to meet Monday head-on. This week: The National Association of Realtors made the first big payment toward its $418 million settlement. Where exactly are the funds coming from?
We all know what it feels like to have a big bill come due, requiring a last-minute scramble to gather together the money needed to meet that financial obligation. This week, the National Association of Realtors found itself looking in the couch cushions, gathering together the money to make that first layaway payment toward its $418 million commission lawsuit settlement.
NAR makes $197M commission suit settlement payment by Andrea V. Brambila
On Feb. 20, NAR made its first big payment toward the financial settlement designed to resolve homeseller antitrust claims over the trade group’s commission rules. Of the $418 million plus interest NAR owes by February 2028, it paid $197 million into an escrow account. Previously, NAR had paid $5 million into that account when the settlement received preliminary approval.
NAR declined to provide details of just where the settlement funds came from for the payment, but some of it will come from reserve funds, including operating reserves and money collected specifically for lobbying and advertising. At November’s NAR NXT annual conference, the Executive Committee approved a motion allowing these reserves to “be used to fund NAR’s settlement obligations … and that the board designation for these funds be suspended for the duration of the settlement period.”
For brokerage companies that negotiated their own deals in the commission lawsuits, settlements impacted Q4 and 2024 earnings alongside the financial impact of a slow market.
Rentals, tech and efficiency drive real estate’s Q4
Companies doubling down on rentals, AI and streamlined operations pulled ahead, while others struggled with agent attrition and slowing sales.
On top of the financial hit, agents and brokers are still wrestling with continuing questions about home touring agreements and the industry’s ongoing Clear Cooperation Policy debate.
Compliance expert Summer Goralik talks with Professor Tanya Monestier about zero-fee touring agreements. Are they an attempted workaround of NAR’s commission lawsuit settlement?
A new-agent guide to the Clear Cooperation
New Inman contributor Vincent Cyr outlines the benefits of the Clear Cooperation Policy for consumers, agents and the industry at large.
EXTRA: Why client disclosures, not MLS mandates, serve homeowners
Christy Murdock is a writer, coach and consultant and the owner of Writing Real Estate. Connect with Writing Real Estate on Instagram and subscribe to the weekly roundup, The Ketchup.
