Did the NAR Settlement Lower Commissions? What Actually Changed for Sellers in 2026
Two years after the National Association of REALTORS® settlement rewrote the rules on real estate commissions, the results have surprised almost everyone: commissions haven’t dropped. According to a February 2026 survey by Clever Real Estate, the average combined commission actually rose slightly, and the average buyer’s agent fee climbed from 2.58% in 2024 to 2.82% in 2026. Here’s what the settlement actually changed — and why “commissions are now negotiable” hasn’t translated into sellers paying less.
Table of Contents
- What Was the NAR Settlement, Actually?
- What Changed on August 17, 2024
- Did Commissions Actually Go Down?
- What Sellers Now Have to Navigate
- What Buyers Now Have to Navigate
- Why “Negotiable” Didn’t Mean “Lower”
- How a Cash Sale Sidesteps the Whole Question
- FAQ
What Was the NAR Settlement, Actually?
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) settlement resolved a series of federal antitrust lawsuits alleging that NAR’s rules had artificially inflated real estate commissions for years. NAR agreed to pay approximately $418 million and to change several of its core practices, without admitting wrongdoing. A federal court approved the settlement, and the practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024.
The central complaint was straightforward: under the old system, a home seller’s listing agent was required to make a blanket compensation offer to any buyer’s agent through the MLS — meaning sellers were effectively pre-committing to pay for the buyer’s representation before ever negotiating, and that figure was baked into listings industry-wide.
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What Changed on August 17, 2024
The settlement’s practice changes came in two main parts:
- Compensation offers came off the MLS. Listing agents can no longer advertise buyer-broker compensation through the Multiple Listing Service. Sellers can still offer to cover a buyer’s agent fee, but that offer is now negotiated directly rather than publicly posted alongside the listing.
- Buyers must sign a written agreement before touring homes. Buyer’s agents are now required to have a signed buyer representation agreement in place before showing a home, spelling out the agent’s compensation and duties upfront, rather than after the fact.
Separately, effective January 1, 2026, NAR updated its own Code of Ethics to align with how compensation now works under these rules.
Did Commissions Actually Go Down?
This is where the story gets counterintuitive. According to a Clever Real Estate survey of real estate agents conducted in February 2026, the national average combined commission sits at roughly 5.70% — essentially unchanged from pre-settlement levels, and in some regional breakdowns, slightly higher.
More striking: the average buyer’s agent fee specifically rose from 2.58% in 2024 to 2.82% in 2026, according to the same survey series. In other words, the fee that critics expected to shrink once it was decoupled from the MLS and forced into direct negotiation actually increased slightly in the two years since the rule change.
What changed wasn’t the price — it was the paperwork, transparency, and negotiation process around that price.
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What Sellers Now Have to Navigate
For sellers working with a traditional agent, the settlement added a few new decision points that didn’t exist before:
- Deciding whether to offer buyer-agent compensation at all, and if so, how much — this is now a strategic choice discussed with your listing agent rather than a default MLS field.
- Negotiating that offer directly with buyers’ agents or folding it into seller concessions during offer negotiations, rather than it being visible and standardized across every listing.
- More disclosure paperwork confirming that commissions are negotiable and were discussed as such.
None of this changes the total cost of a traditional sale much — average combined commissions remain in the 5.7% range nationally — but it does mean more active negotiation and paperwork than the pre-2024 system required.
What Buyers Now Have to Navigate
Buyers face a more direct shift: they’re now required to sign a buyer representation agreement — spelling out their agent’s fee and duties — before that agent can show them homes. This has made some buyers, especially first-time buyers, more hesitant to commit to an agent relationship without first understanding exactly what they’re agreeing to pay for.
In practice, many buyers are still having that fee covered through seller concessions negotiated as part of the offer — it’s just no longer publicly posted on the MLS listing the way it once was.
Why “Negotiable” Didn’t Mean “Lower”
The settlement was widely covered in 2024 with headlines suggesting the traditional 6% commission model was effectively dead. Nearly two years of data tell a more modest story: making something “negotiable” doesn’t automatically make it cheaper, especially when most consumers on both sides of a transaction still rely on an agent to guide a negotiation they have limited experience with.
Removing compensation fields from the MLS increased transparency about the process, but it didn’t fundamentally change the market dynamics that determine what agents charge — namely, that most buyers and sellers still value having representation and are willing to pay a market-rate fee for it.
How a Cash Sale Sidesteps the Whole Question
All of this — MLS rule changes, buyer representation agreements, negotiating who pays what — assumes you’re selling through a traditional, agent-represented transaction. A direct cash sale skips the commission conversation entirely, on both sides:
- No listing agent commission. There’s no MLS listing, so there’s nothing to negotiate compensation around.
- No buyer’s agent to compensate, since you’re selling directly to a buyer rather than to a represented purchaser.
- No new paperwork stemming from the settlement’s rule changes, since none of it applies to a direct, non-MLS transaction.
On a $400,000 home, even the current post-settlement 5.70% average combined commission works out to roughly $22,800 — money that stays with the seller in a direct cash sale instead.
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Frequently Asked Questions About the NAR Settlement and Commissions
Did real estate commissions go down after the NAR settlement? No, not meaningfully. A February 2026 Clever Real Estate survey found the national average combined commission at roughly 5.70%, close to pre-settlement levels, and the average buyer’s agent fee actually rose from 2.58% in 2024 to 2.82% in 2026.
What actually changed for sellers because of the settlement? Sellers can no longer have their listing agent advertise buyer-agent compensation through the MLS. Instead, that compensation is negotiated directly and disclosed separately, giving sellers a more active (and more paperwork-heavy) role in the decision than before.
Do I still have to pay a buyer’s agent commission if I sell my house? Not automatically. Since buyer-agent compensation is no longer a default MLS field, whether and how much you offer is now a direct negotiation — though in practice, most traditional sales still involve some form of buyer-side compensation, negotiated case by case.
Why do buyers need to sign an agreement before touring homes now? The settlement requires buyer’s agents to have a signed representation agreement in place before showing homes, spelling out their fee and duties upfront. This was designed to increase transparency about what buyers are agreeing to pay for.
Does any of this apply if I sell to a cash home buyer instead of listing? No. A direct cash sale doesn’t involve the MLS, a listing agent, or a buyer’s agent, so none of the settlement’s rule changes around compensation disclosure or buyer representation agreements come into play.
This article provides general information about industry rule changes and is not legal advice. For guidance on a specific listing or transaction, consult a licensed real estate professional or attorney.