The threads binding many agents to their Realtor associations may be starting to fray, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to snap.
In the days and weeks following the National Association of Realtors’ repeal of its policy that MLS access should be tied to association membership, the Intel Index survey found a solid majority of support for the move among the engaged Inman community, even as stiff opposition remains.
A significant share of agents also indicated to Intel that there would be a substantial appetite for canceling at least one Realtor membership if doing so would not interfere with access to their MLSs or lockboxes.
But even without NAR’s national policy in place, agents dreaming of dropping their membership dues may be thwarted by multiple barriers — including both “hard” policy and “soft” pressure, Intel’s survey finds.
Intel’s survey also sought to gather data on where MLSs stand on the policy, now that the ball is in their court. While many MLSs have yet to update members on their plans, an early picture is beginning to emerge.
Read the full breakdown in this week’s report.
Consensus and conflict
NAR’s decision was met with general acceptance by most real estate agents surveyed by Intel. But it’s far from unanimous.
- Supporters of NAR’s policy change outnumbered opponents more than 2-to-1 in late November, with 61 percent of agent respondents saying they agreed with the change and 30 percent saying they disagreed.
- 58 percent of agent respondents said they believed “strongly” that the NAR made the right or wrong choice — with 38 percent strongly agreeing and 20 percent strongly disagreeing. That’s compared to only 33 percent of agent respondents who said they only leaned moderately one way or the other.
In other words, the industry remains polarized and conflicted, despite a general lean in the direction of the new national policy.
- 23 percent of agent respondents said they approve of NAR’s decision because it avoids some legal risk, but worry about its potential impact on organized real estate.
- Agents who conducted more than 10 transactions over the past year were especially likely to express some degree of concern or opposition: 32 percent of these respondents said they supported the move with reservations, compared to 16 percent of lower-volume agents.
Meanwhile, agents with 10 transactions or fewer over the past year were likelier than their higher-volume counterparts to “approve strongly” of the decision.
- 44 percent of lower-volume agents said they believe that MLS access should ultimately be decoupled from Realtor membership, compared to 30 percent of high-volume agents.
High-volume agents were also slightly more likely than lower-volume agents to express serious misgivings about the policy change.
- 23 percent of high-volume agents who responded to Intel’s survey said that the move either weakens the industry’s collective advocacy and standards, or lowers the barrier to entry in a way that they strongly disapprove of.
- 19 percent of lower-volume agents strongly disapproved for the same reasons.
Regardless, the decision now rests squarely with MLSs across the country.
What are MLSs saying now?
Less than a week after NAR’s policy reversal, Intel launched its November survey asking real estate agents for the scoop on what their primary MLS has said since the change.
Here’s what we learned.
- The largest group of respondents — 36 percent of agents and 41 percent of brokerage leaders — said their MLS had yet to comment on its plans as of Intel’s late November survey window.
- Another 10 percent of agents and 19 percent of brokerage leaders told Intel that their MLS already did not require membership before the NAR policy change.
That leaves a significant slice of respondents who said they had heard back from their MLS in the days or weeks following the policy change.
- 15 percent of all agent respondents and 10 percent of all brokerage leader respondents said their MLS had affirmed its commitment to the Realtor association requirement.
- Those figures outnumber the 6 percent of agents and 9 percent of brokerage leaders who said their MLS had recently scrapped the requirement.
- The remaining portion of each group said either that they didn’t know whether their MLS had made a statement yet, or that their MLS had announced the policy was under review.
Overall, it’s too early to tell how many MLSs across the country will take this opportunity to open up their platforms to licensed non-Realtors.
But if more begin to do just that, there might be an additional stopgap for supporters of the status quo: brokerage policy.
Next week, Intel will go deeper on this topic, exploring just how many survey respondents said they would drop their NAR membership if allowed — and what some brokerage leaders might do in an attempt to hold the line.
Methodology notes: This month’s Inman Intel Index survey ran from Nov. 20-Dec. 3, 2025, and received 485 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.
