In a recent settlement, the National Association of Realtors agreed to change its rule so that anyone who lists a home for sale on any of its databases can no longer offer commission to the buyer’s agent.
If the court approves the settlement, the rule change would take place in mid-July. This could bring about a future where the seller would no longer be paying for the buyer’s agent, leading to more buyers being their own agents.
The changes would “decouple” the commissions owed to the buyer and seller agents, allowing more flexibility in negotiation, according to Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America.
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He estimates that over time, a home being sold for $500,000 would save $10,000 in commission costs, potentially lowering the price of homes being sold.
However, not everyone is convinced that buyers will benefit from the rule change, at least in the short term.
Lei Wedge, an associate professor specializing in real estate and investments at the University of South Florida, told Yahoo! Finance that “it’s going to be worse for the buyer” because “buyers will [probably] end up paying more money for the home because now they have to come up with a commission to pay their buyer agent because this is a seller’s market.”
Even with those concerns, Wedge remains optimistic that over the longer term, it’ll bring progress in lowering costs as “[in] the rest of the world, the commission to sell a property is 2% to 3% … there’s no reason the average cost of selling a property in the United States is 5.49%.”
Markets have already started to price in the prospect of a major shake-up to the commission structure that occurs in today’s real estate transactions.
Before the settlement was determined, financial services firm Morningstar singled out CoStar Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP), which owns homes.com, as a beneficiary, saying, “Homes.com should be largely unaffected from the direct implications of this lawsuit as it aims to monetize just one side of the transaction by selling advertisement products to enhance the exposure of seller listings on its platform.”
Meanwhile, Morningstar argued that “real estate portals like Zillow and Realtor.com stand to lose the most from the impacts of this decision as they make most of their revenue by routing buyer leads to real estate agents that buy its advertising products. Since the lawsuit mainly targets the buyer-side brokerage commission, therefore it can have a significant impact on Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) and Realtor.com.”
The stocks of CoStar and Zillow have diverged accordingly, with CoStar up about 18% in the past month compared to Zillow down over 3%.
Regardless of how the situation plays out, it’s left those in the real estate industry with significant uncertainty. According to Belinda Tucker, a Realtor who owns a firm in North Carolina, the changes will either “turn out to be a good thing” or “could turn out to be the worst thing ever.”
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
