The Sitzer-Burnett v. NAR (National Association of Realtors) settlement in March 2024 has created numerous changes within the real estate industry. 

Craig Cheatham, president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, said that the level of compensation for real estate agents “seems to be generally the same” following the settlement because “real estate professionals were earning their pay before the lawsuit settlement, and they are earning it now.”

After the settlement, industry members expressed their concern that real estate agents’ commissions would decrease. Cheatham noted that there hasn’t been a “meaningful change.”

“The split between the seller portion and the buyer portion appears to be moving a bit more in the direction of the seller side,” Cheatham said. “The Realty Alliance is on record before the settlement as predicting that the lawsuits, however they turned out, would not have a huge impact on what agents get paid.

“The lawsuit settlement created more work for agents, not less. Why would anyone think they would be paid less after the lawsuit?” he added. “They are not working fewer hours or performing fewer tasks or taking any fewer near-heroic measures to save transactions after the lawsuit.”

For more from Cheatham, read the full story in the Adapting to NAR Settlement’s New Realities in-depth report, available here as a free download.