Redfin Publishes Commissions on Over 700,000 Homes for Sale

Redfin is now publishing the buyer's agent commission for over 700,000 home listings in regions where this data is available. Redfin's mission to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor means giving consumers access to the most transparent data and saving customers' money on fees.

Publishing this data is possible because of an upcoming settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors. Redfin was the first nationwide brokerage to publish the commission offered for its own agents' listings on its website. But prior to the DOJ/NAR agreement, the company was restricted from publishing the commission on other brokerages' listings.

"Homebuyers will finally see how much money their agent stands to earn on any home for sale, letting them evaluate whether they're getting good value for their money," said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. "On the other side of the deal, people listing their home will find out what other sellers are paying buyers' agents, without having to take their agents' word for it. This information could usher in a new era of price competition that saves consumers billions of dollars in fees."

Redfin has long been a leader in offering full service for a lower fee. When a homebuyer purchases with a Redfin agent in select markets, Redfin gives a portion of the commission it earns back to the buyer in the form of refund at closing. The average Redfin Refund was $1,850 in 2019. Through year-end 2019, the Redfin Refund had saved buyers over $380 million.

In addition to making buyer's agent commission fees public, the NAR/DOJ agreement also forbids real estate agents from misrepresenting that buyer broker services are free. According to a 2019 survey commissioned by Redfin, 61% of homebuyers did not fully understand how their agent was paid. This leaves buyers unable to compare agent services and evaluate them on service and price.

Redfin now displays commission for listings in approximately 65 MLSs and will add data in additional areas as it becomes available.

As of today, Redfin is publishing the commission for approximately 65 multiple listing services (MLSs) and the company will publish the data from the remaining MLSs it belongs to as soon as they make the data available. The buyer's agent commission can be found in the property details on individual listing pages on Redfin.com.

Buyer agent commissions declined in Seattle after commissions became public.

In Seattle, the only market where the local MLS allowed brokerage sites like Redfin to publish all buyer's agent commissions prior to the DOJ/NAR agreement, the typical buyer's brokerage commission declined slightly, from 2.8% in 2019 to 2.7% in 2020, according to a Redfin analysis of MLS data. Nationally, the average buyer's brokerage commission remained flat at 2.7% between 2019 and 2020.

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