Real Estate Commissions After the 2024 NAR Settlement

Sellers can still pay a buyer's agent after the NAR settlement, but it is now a separate, optional decision, and it can no longer be advertised on a Realtor MLS. Since August 17, 2024, every commission is openly negotiable, buyers sign a written agreement with their own agent before touring, and a seller decides on a case-by-case basis whether to offer that agent compensation, give the buyer a concession, or neither.

New York City works a little differently because many brokerages here share listings through REBNY's Residential Listing Service (RLS), which runs under rules REBNY sets, and REBNY changed those rules even earlier. Here is what applies to you as a seller.

What the NAR settlement changed

The National Association of Realtors settled the commission lawsuits in 2024 and agreed to practice changes that took effect on August 17, 2024. According to NAR, the changes that matter to sellers are:

• No compensation offers on the MLS. Listings on a Realtor-affiliated MLS can no longer show an offer of compensation to buyer's agents. Sellers can still offer it through other channels, such as their agent telling a buyer's agent directly.
• Concessions are still allowed on the MLS. A seller can advertise a concession to the buyer, such as help with the buyer's closing costs.
• Written buyer agreements before touring. Agents who work with buyers must sign a written agreement with the buyer before touring a home, in person or by live virtual tour. The agreement must state the agent's compensation in an objective way (a flat fee, a percentage or an hourly rate), bar the agent from receiving more than that amount from any source, and say conspicuously that broker fees and commissions are fully negotiable and not set by law.
• Commissions remain negotiable. NAR says agent compensation for buyers and sellers continues to be fully negotiable.

Buyers can see their side of this in buyer broker agreements after the NAR settlement.

How NYC's REBNY RLS is different

REBNY, the Real Estate Board of New York, runs its own listing-sharing system for member brokerages and sets the rules through its Universal Co-Brokerage Agreement (UCBA). It moved on commissions before the NAR settlement did:

1. January 1, 2024

   Seller, not listing broker, makes any buyside offer

   REBNY says offers of compensation to the buyer’s broker must come directly from the seller, and listing brokers no longer make or pay the buyside compensation. If the seller makes no offer, the buyer’s broker may negotiate pay from the buyer.

2. August 2024

   RLS compensation fields become optional

   NAR’s practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024. The same month, REBNY made the RLS compensation fields optional, and many firms stopped sharing compensation there.

3. August 1, 2025

   RLS compensation fields removed

   REBNY removed all compensation fields from the RLS, alongside written buyer representation agreements before any showing and disclosures that commissions are negotiable. REBNY says these changes are reflected in its 2025 UCBA.

The practical upshot in NYC: if your listing broker shares listings through the RLS under REBNY's co-brokerage agreement, you, the seller, decide whether to offer anything to a buyer's broker, and your listing agreement should say so clearly. Under those rules your listing broker no longer pays the buyer's broker out of its own commission. Ask any agent you interview whether they participate in the RLS.

Your three options for the buyer's side

1. Offer compensation to the buyer's agent

You can still agree to pay the buyer's agent, as a percentage or a flat amount. It just can't appear on a Realtor MLS, and in NYC it comes from you rather than your listing broker. Some sellers do this to keep the widest pool of buyers, especially buyers who cannot easily pay their own agent on top of a down payment.

2. Offer a concession to the buyer instead

A concession is money from you to the buyer at closing, often toward closing costs. The buyer can use it however their lender allows, including toward their own agent. Lenders cap how much a seller can contribute depending on the loan program and down payment, so check the limit with the seller concessions calculator before you agree to a figure.

3. Offer nothing and negotiate offer by offer

You can list without any buyer-agent offer and respond when an offer arrives with a request. Buyers' agents now have signed agreements that state what their client owes them, so expect that number to come up during negotiation.

What to negotiate in your listing agreement

• Your listing agent's commission: the rate or flat fee, and exactly when it is earned (signed contract or closing).
• Buyer-side compensation: whether you are offering any, how much, and who decides on requests that come in with offers.
• Term and exclusivity: how long the agreement lasts and how you can end it. See listing agreement types.
• Tail period: whether you owe a commission if a buyer introduced during the listing buys after it ends.
• Dual agency: what happens if the same firm represents the buyer.
• Marketing costs: who pays for photography, floor plans, staging and advertising.

What the settlement did not do

• It did not set a commission rate, cap commissions or ban seller-paid buyer compensation.
• It did not make buyers pay their agents in every case; it made the arrangement explicit and negotiable.
• It does not guarantee lower or higher prices for sellers. How offers and concessions affect your sale depends on your market and your buyer pool.

For the full selling sequence, see how to sell a home in NYC and how to choose a listing agent.