A HUGE ruling in the lawsuit against how real estate commissions are split between a listing agent and the buyer’s agent may have a monumental impact on the future of real estate. Last Tuesday, a jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and set damages initially at $1.78 TRILLION DOLLARS! While we all know that NAR doesn’t have that kind of money, it will likely have to find a number to satisfy the plaintiffs. It also will be interesting to see if the Judge eliminates the “Cooperative Compensation Rule” as part of this case because if he does, it will change the way real estate commissions work in a big way. As you know, the listing agent and the home seller have a commission agreement for a set percentage of the total sale. In that agreement, it spells out how much of that commission will be shared with the buyer’s agent in this transaction. If the judge rules that this is illegal, it will now be the BUYER who is responsible to pay the buyer’s agent for services. This could be the beginning of a whole new world in real estate!

Now obviously everything isn’t set yet and all rulings can be appealed, but it is important that you are aware of this story and know that while nothing is final yet; it certainly is the beginning of significant changes in real estate. 

As expected, The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged. Bond prices are improving looking ahead into today’s initial jobless claims and Friday’s October Jobs Report. Again, just information you need to be aware of. 

PLEASE! It is very important that you find and VERIFY information through reliable sources. We have all seen far too many “experts” on social media with “opinions” on what is happening and what the results might be. A simple Google search can bring up official rulings and that is what you need to rely on as a starting point of your research.

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New builds are taking up a growing share of the pie as builders attract buyers with concessions, and surging mortgage rates prevent existing homeowners from selling

Nationwide, 30.6% of U.S. single-family homes for sale in the third quarter were new construction, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s the highest share of any third quarter on record and up from 28.9% one year earlier and 25% two years earlier.

Newly built homes have taken up a growing share of for-sale housing inventory partly because homebuilding has increased and partly because the number of existing homeowners putting their houses up for sale has decreased as mortgage rates have surged to a 23-year high of roughly 8%.

High mortgage rates have pushed a lot of buyers to the sidelines, but many of the buyers who are in the market are opting for new construction homes because builders are handing out concessions like mortgage rate buydowns in order to attract bidders and offload inventory. Purchases of new single-family homes jumped 12.3% last month—the fastest pace since early 2022. It’s worth noting that the latest run up in mortgage rates could slow new-home construction.

“Sellers are facing tough competition from homebuilders, who are sometimes offering buyers up to $30,000 worth of concessions,” said Kim Lotz, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Phoenix. “With that kind of money, a buyer can cover closing costs, home upgrades, and buy down their mortgage rate. In some cases, people who purchased a house from a builder a year ago are selling and competing against that same builder for buyers."

To view the full report with additional charts, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/new-construction-homes-Q3-2023

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We sell homes for more money and charge half the fee. We also run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home in certain markets can have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Customers who buy and sell with Redfin pay a 1% listing fee, subject to minimums, less than half of what brokerages commonly charge. Since launching in 2006, we've saved customers more than $1.5 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 5,000 people.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To view Redfin's press center, click here.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231031702023/en/