NAR Commission Settlement 18 Months Later: What Actually Changed for Buyers, Sellers, and Agents in 2026

# NAR Commission Settlement 18 Months Later: What Actually Changed for Buyers, Sellers, and Agents in 2026

> **Quick answer:** The NAR's $418 million commission settlement took effect August 17, 2024, with two sweeping rule changes: sellers can no longer list buyer agent compensation on the MLS, and buyers must sign a written representation agreement before touring any home. Eighteen months later, buyer agent commissions went up, not down — rising from a post-settlement low of 2.36% to roughly 2.82% by 2026. The most consequential unintended consequence is a surge in "pocket listings" that consumer advocates and the National Urban League are calling a potential new form of redlining.

When the National Association of Realtors settled the Sitzer-Burnett antitrust lawsuit for $418 million in March 2024, the promise was simple: homebuyers would finally gain real negotiating power over agent fees, the 6% commission model would crack, and a more competitive real estate market would lower the cost of buying a home. Eighteen months after the NAR commission settlement 2026 data has arrived — and the results are counterintuitive, complicated, and in some ways more worrying than the problem the settlement was designed to fix.

## The Two Rules That Changed Everything (And One That Didn't)

The NAR settlement took effect August 17, 2024, with two core structural changes that reshaped how American real estate transactions work.

**Rule 1: No more MLS commission offers to buyer agents.** For decades, when a seller listed a property, they automatically offered a buyer's agent commission — typically 2.5% to 3% — visible on the MLS. Critics argued this bundled structure eliminated price competition among buyer agents and artificially inflated total commission costs. Under the new rules, that offer is gone from MLS listings. Sellers can still choose to pay the buyer's agent, but it must now be negotiated deal by deal, not pre-listed.