The average U.S. buyer’s agent commission has returned to the level it was at when the National Association of REALTORS® agreed to change its rules governing commissions in a March 2024 settlement, Redfin said. 

The increase brought the average commission from 2.41% in the first quarter to 2.43% — the same as it was when the rule change was announced. The average commission fell to 2.36% when the change was implemented in September 2024 and has now risen for three quarters in a row since then, according to Redfin. 

Courtesy of Redfin.

The rule change was part of a settlement in Burnett vs. NAR, which was brought by home sellers who argued the practice of having sellers pay commissions for both their real estate agents and buyer’s agents artificially inflated commissions. The NAR agreed to prohibit posting buyer commissions on the MLS, require signed buyer’s broker agreements before any showings and pay $418 million in damages. 

Despite the initial drop in commissions, fears that the settlement would lead to a dramatic shakeup in agent compensation have not materialized. Buyer’s agents are now being paid at their pre-settlement level, thanks in part to the negotiating power buyers enjoy in many parts of the country, which had 500,000 more sellers than buyers in June — the greatest disparity since 2013, according to Redfin. 

With a dearth of buyers in many markets, sellers are more willing to pay buyer’s agents higher commissions to close deals, the brokerage explained. 

Commissions were up across all price levels, with agents in transactions of $500,000 or less seeing the highest commissions as a percentage of deal value. Buyer’s commissions in this bracket rose from 2.50% in the first quarter to 2.52% in the second quarter, while they rose from 2.31% to 2.34% for transactions between $500,000 and $999,999 and from an all-time low of 2.19% to 2.21% for sales of $1 million and up. 

Courtesy of Redfin.