“The other thing we look at is that the people who really benefit from lower transaction costs are the people who are buying and selling homes at scale, which are the big investors. So one of the unintended consequences of that is that the beneficiaries It’s big business, not people like first-time home buyers.
As these changes to business practices begin on August 17, Simonson will be watching a few different metrics, including the ratio of listing price to sales price, days on market and the number of failed transactions.
“In a normal market, homes sell and list for very close to the same dollar amount. Any given home may be over or under priced, but on average, the sales price to listing price ratio is very close to 100%, Simonson said. “But the question is, if the buyer’s agent fee is paid by the seller or the buyer, if it is added to the final price or deducted from the final price, how does that change the final sales price?”
Additionally, Simonson wonders “if listings that don’t offer any buyer’s agent commissions take longer to sell, and are they likely to sell for less?”
“It’s also possible that there will be more unrepresented buyers, and we know that if you have more unrepresented buyers, you’re going to have more insurance claims and lawsuits and a greater chance that the deal will fall through,” Simonson said. ”
“Obviously, if a property where the seller is not offering concessions of any kind takes longer to sell and sells for less, that will certainly determine everyone’s next move in this matter, unless the Department of Justice or regulators step in and Discourage sellers from offering concessions of any kind.
house line Chief analyst Logan Mohtashami is also reviewing metrics such as days on market and sales price as the changes to business practices take effect, but he doesn’t expect to see any real impact anytime soon.
“It always takes about 12 to 18 months for a new law or rule to come into effect to really understand how the market will respond,” Mohtashami said.
Motashami said if sellers weren’t willing to help with buyer’s agent fees, they were actually making the home more expensive for the buyer.
“When you have to bring in more cash, that’s a big thing,” he said. “Having sellers pay buyer’s agents is always a stimulus package for first-time homebuyers, and when you take that away and ask people to bring more money, it changes everything, so I’m excited to see Play it out in this area.
With real estate market conditions slowing in many metro areas, Motashami doesn’t think it’s the type of market where sellers would experiment heavily with commissions.
“Market dynamics do play a big role in this because it’s not the best market for sellers to try commissions, inventory is up and some are cutting prices,” he said. “However, if rates come down and there are people in the pool More buyers, then we’ll have to see how that works when demand increases, so it’s a changing variable.”
Ultimately, though, economists believe changes in business practices won’t have the same impact on markets as central bank interest rate cuts. Fedthat doesn’t mean they don’t keep an eye on things.
