Top agents are winning a greater share of listings in the wake of NAR’s commission settlement last year, with high-performers holding 42.64 percent of all listings, new data from tech firm Relitix shows.
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A new survey shows that top agents are winning a greater share of listings in the wake of last year’s big antitrust commission settlement and suggests the real estate industry is entering a “new era” that’s more focused on sell-side activity.
The survey, from real estate technology firm Relitix, found that today 42.64 percent of all listings are controlled by just 10 percent of agents. Moreover, that’s a 16.6 percent increase compared to what was happening before the National Association of Realtors settled various antitrust lawsuits. The settlement included new rules governing, among other things, the way agents handle compensation.
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In a report on its survey, Relitix concludes that the migration of listings to top agents “reflects a market increasingly dominated by experienced agents who can justify their value to sellers through superior results and compliance expertise.”
The findings align with previously collected Inman Intel data. In December, for example, Intel reported that a crop of mostly high-volume performers were taking advantage of the post-settlement landscape in order to successfully negotiate with buyers for a bigger cut of the transaction. That report also noted that some top-performing agents have seen commission rates rise in recent months, but that such agents tend to do higher levels of volume and to hail from larger brokerages.
The Relitix survey — which Real Estate News first reported on — and Intel findings were further aligned on the importance of sell-side activity. Relitix, for example, reported that before the NAR settlement the median listing was handled by an agent with a 64.7 percent focus on listings (as opposed to buy-side activity). But after the settlement, that percentage has ticked up to 68.2 percent.
“The median listing is now handled by an agent who is more focused on seller representation and demonstrates higher annual production than before, while top performers continue to consolidate their dominance,” the Relitix report states.
In a similar vein, Intel reported in October — just two months after NAR’s new rules went into effect — that it was listing agents holding the line in the face of downward pressure on commissions.
The findings that listing agents are becoming more important also comes against a backdrop of greater industry focus on sell-side activity. CoStar, for example, is promoting its Homes.com residential portal with the tagline “your listing, your lead” — an explicit attempt to reel in listing agents. And last July at Inman Connect Las Vegas, CoStar CEO Andy Florance said on stage that his company’s focus was on “selling the house.”
At the same time, Compass has been working to build a private network of listings that are only accessible via its proprietary platform. Much of the brokerage’s public facing work of late — including and especially attempts to end NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy — have taken place in the service of efforts to build this private network.
What the efforts of Compass and CoStar have in common is that they are laser focused on listings and sell-side activity — which is exactly where recent surveys suggest the real estate industry’s action is taking place.
Among other things, the Relitix survey also found that proficiency improves when agents handle 15 or more transactions per year, and that agents are on average taking fewer deals but handling more volume.
Relitix’s report concludes by describing a “new era of specialization and proficiency.” And it offers recommendations for brokerage leaders, including that they should work to improve proficiency of mid-tier agents and that they should target “list-side specialists” — something that Intel’s findings suggest is indeed already happening.
“With top-performing agents controlling an increasing share of the market,” Relitix also advises in its report, “retaining these individuals is crucial for brokerage success. Offer incentives tied to closing efficiency and price growth rather than raw volume to align with post-settlement dynamics.”
Email Jim Dalrymple II
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