Commission figures cited here reflect 2025–2026 data from Redfin, the Federal Reserve, and the National Association of REALTORS®; commissions are always negotiable and vary by market, price point, and agent.
TL;DR — Quick Verdict
- The total real estate commission averaged 5.70% in Clever’s February 2026 survey of 533 agents, splitting roughly into 2.88% for the listing agent and 2.82% for the buyer’s agent — about $24,700 on a $434,100 median home.
- Since the NAR settlement took effect on August 17, 2024, sellers are no longer required to offer buyer’s-agent compensation through the MLS — but most still do, and rates barely moved.
- The buyer’s-agent commission was 2.42% in Q3 2025 (Redfin, the most recent quarter reported), slightly higher than the 2.36% low recorded when the rules launched.
- Comparison: A full-service listing at 2.88% costs a seller roughly $12,500 on a median home, versus a 1% discount broker at about $4,300 — an $8,200 gap.
- Recommendation: Negotiate the listing rate directly, put every commission term in writing before touring homes, and treat buyer’s-agent pay as a line item you can shift in the offer.
A seller closing on a median-priced U.S. home this year hands over roughly $24,700 to real estate agents — more than a full year of the median American worker’s after-tax savings, gone at the closing table in a single afternoon. The buyer’s-agent commission has ranged from about 2.2% to 2.8% of the sale price through 2025 and 2026, and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) settlement that took effect in August 2024 was supposed to shrink it. It didn’t. Redfin’s transaction data shows the buyer’s-agent rate at 2.42% in the third quarter of 2025 — higher than the 2.36% recorded when the new rules began — and it’s the most recent quarter Redfin has reported. This guide breaks down exactly who pays which agent in 2026, what the split looks like on real dollar figures, how discount brokerages like Redfin and Clever change the math, and where the three biggest negotiating mistakes cost sellers thousands. Every rate below is drawn from Redfin’s closed-transaction data, a Federal Reserve compensation study, Clever’s agent survey, and NAR’s own price reporting — not industry rules of thumb.
What Real Estate Commissions Actually Cost in 2026
Commission is charged as a percentage of the final sale price, then divided between the two agents in the deal. Clever Real Estate’s February 2026 survey of 533 agents pegged the average total commission at 5.70%, up from 5.44% in 2025 and a five-year high. On the July 2026 median existing-home price of $434,100 reported by NAR, that total works out to about $24,744.
The split matters more than the headline number, because after the settlement, who pays each half is now a live negotiation. Here is how the money divides on homes at several price points, using the 2.88% listing-agent and 2.82% buyer’s-agent averages from Clever’s February 2026 survey.
Split rates from Clever Real Estate’s February 2026 agent survey (average 5.70% total); median price from NAR Existing-Home Sales, July 2026. NAR Existing-Home Sales.
Notice the percentage doesn’t fall on pricier homes in this average, but Redfin’s data shows it does in practice: homes over $1 million carried a 2.22% buyer’s-agent fee in the third quarter of 2025, while sub-$500,000 homes carried 2.52%. The dollar check still climbs steeply with price — 2.22% of $1.2 million is roughly $26,640, far more than 2.52% of $300,000. Your total upfront cost of buying a home shifts meaningfully depending on which side absorbs this fee.
Who Pays the Buyer’s Agent Now — The Rule That Changed
For decades, the answer was simple: the seller paid everyone. A seller signed a listing agreement at 5% to 6%, and the listing broker advertised a slice of that — usually half — to any buyer’s agent who brought a client, right on the MLS. Buyers rarely saw a bill because the cost was baked into the seller’s proceeds.
That machinery broke on August 17, 2024. As part of NAR’s $418 million antitrust settlement, listing agents can no longer publish buyer’s-agent compensation on the MLS, and buyers must now sign a written representation agreement — spelling out their agent’s fee — before touring a single home. The compensation still gets negotiated; it just moved off the public database and into direct conversation.
In 2026, three payment paths exist. The seller can still offer to cover the buyer’s-agent fee as a concession, which remains the most common outcome. The buyer can pay their agent directly at closing from their own funds, adding to the cash they bring alongside the down payment. Or the two sides split the difference inside the purchase contract. Understanding your down payment tiers and total cost differences matters more now, because a buyer-paid commission is cash that competes directly with the down payment.
One structural constraint shapes all of this: lenders generally exclude a seller-paid buyer’s-agent commission from Fannie Mae’s interested-party contribution caps, so sellers can still fund it from sale proceeds. That single accounting detail is why the old system largely survived the settlement — the plumbing that let sellers pay never actually got ripped out.
Why the Settlement Didn’t Lower Commissions
Predictions of a commission collapse were everywhere in 2024. The reality, two years on, is a rate that kept climbing. Redfin’s buyer’s-agent commission fell to a low of 2.36% in Q3 2024 — the quarter the rules launched — then climbed back to 2.42% by Q3 2025, the most recent quarter Redfin has reported. Combined commissions moved the same direction in Clever’s agent surveys: 5.32% in 2024, 5.44% in 2025, and 5.70% in February 2026 — a five-year high.
The Federal Reserve offered the clearest explanation. In a May 12, 2025 FEDS Note titled “Commissions and Omissions,” economists Rupkatha Banerjee and Andrew Paciorek analyzed CoreLogic MLS data covering roughly half of all U.S. listings from 1995 to 2023. They found buyer’s-agent rates drifted down slowly over three decades — from about 3% in the late 1990s to roughly 2.7% today — and that the drift tracked rising home prices, not policy. Critically, they examined 15 states that had required buyer agreements or banned rebates years earlier and found no measurable effect on commission rates.
The mechanism the settlement changed — MLS advertising of buyer compensation — was never the thing setting the price. Local norms, agent time, transaction complexity, and sellers’ incentive to attract buyers were. A seller in a soft market still wants to sweeten the deal, and offering to cover the buyer’s agent is the cheapest way to widen the buyer pool. As Redfin’s data showed, sellers kept paying because the competitive logic never disappeared.
Full-Service Agent vs. Discount Brokerage: Which Wins for Sellers?
The commission you actually pay depends heavily on which listing model you choose, and the gap is large enough to fund a kitchen remodel. Traditional full-service agents charge the going 2.88% listing-side average. Discount and flat-fee brokerages — Redfin, Clever, Ideal Agent, and flat-fee MLS services — undercut that, typically listing for 1% to 1.5% or a fixed fee.
Full-service rate from Clever Real Estate’s February 2026 survey; discount and flat-fee ranges reflect published brokerage pricing, 2025–2026. Vendor pricing varies by market (verify at listwithclever.com and redfin.com).
Verdict
For a standard home in a liquid market, a 1% discount brokerage saves roughly $8,161 on a median-priced sale versus full-service, and the buyer’s-agent side is unaffected. Full-service earns its keep on hard-to-price properties, luxury tiers, or thin markets where marketing and negotiation move the sale price by more than the fee difference. If your home is well-priced in a metro with steady demand, the discount model usually wins on net proceeds; if it’s unusual or you need hands-on guidance, pay for the full-service agent.
What Most People Get Wrong About Commissions
Three misconceptions cost sellers and buyers real money in 2026, and all three stem from treating commission as fixed when it never was.
Mistake one: believing 6% is the “standard” rate. There is no legal or standard commission — the settlement agreements require agents to state in writing that fees are fully negotiable. The consequence is sellers anchoring to 6% and overpaying by a full percentage point. The correct move is to name a lower number first; a 2024 CNBC-cited figure found 36% of buyers and sellers didn’t even know they could negotiate.
Mistake two: signing a buyer representation agreement without reading the fee term. Since August 2024, that document locks in what you owe your agent, and it can carry obligations that survive even if the seller doesn’t cover the fee. Buyers who skim it get surprised at closing. Read the compensation clause, cap it at what the seller is offering, and strike any language that makes you personally liable for a gap.
Mistake three: assuming a buyer-paid commission won’t strain your cash to close. If the seller offers nothing, that 2.42% becomes cash you owe on top of the down payment and closing costs — and it can’t usually be rolled into the loan. First-time buyers get hit hardest here. Anyone stretching their budget should review home affordability calculation with DTI and taxes and first-time homebuyer assistance programs by state before assuming the seller will pay.
Is Paying Full Commission Worth It? Who Should and Shouldn’t
Whether the standard rate is worth it comes down to your property, your market, and your appetite for doing agent work yourself. The decision is conditional, not universal.
Pay full freight if your home is complex to price or sell — a luxury property, a fixer, a rural listing, or anything in a slow market where days-on-market runs long. A skilled agent who nets you 3% more on the sale price more than covers a 2.88% fee. The same logic favors buyers in competitive metros: an agent who wins a bidding war or spots a title problem earns the commission many times over. Sellers weighing property type should also factor in how condo vs single-family true ownership costs affect buyer demand and pricing strategy.
Go discount or flat-fee if you have a standard home in a hot market, you’re comfortable managing showings and paperwork, or you’re selling to a buyer you already have. In those cases the marketing muscle of a full-service agent adds little, and the savings drop straight to your net proceeds. Buyers who are financially disciplined and doing their own research — comparing rent vs buy break-even math or weighing new construction vs existing home cost comparison — may negotiate a rebate or flat fee with a buyer’s agent rather than the standard percentage. The break-even test is simple: if the agent’s expertise won’t move your price or protect you from a costly error by more than their fee, don’t pay the full rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the buyer or the seller pay the real estate commission in 2026?
Both halves are now negotiable, but the seller most commonly still pays both agents. Since the NAR settlement took effect August 17, 2024, sellers are no longer required to offer buyer’s-agent compensation, yet Redfin data shows most continue to — the buyer’s-agent rate held at 2.42% in Q3 2025, the most recent quarter reported. Buyers can also pay their own agent directly, which adds cash at closing on top of the down payment.
Can you negotiate real estate agent commission?
Yes — there is no legal or standard rate, and settlement rules require agents to state in writing that fees are fully negotiable. Yet a 2024 figure cited by the Federal Reserve found 36% of buyers and sellers didn’t know they could negotiate. Naming a lower listing rate or choosing a 1% discount brokerage can save roughly $8,161 on a median $434,100 home versus the 2.88% full-service average.
Did the NAR settlement actually lower commissions?
Not meaningfully — commissions have risen since the rules took effect. The buyer’s-agent rate fell to 2.36% when the rules launched in Q3 2024, then climbed back to 2.42% by Q3 2025 (Redfin), while Clever’s agent surveys show the combined average rising from 5.32% in 2024 to 5.70% in February 2026. A May 2025 Federal Reserve study found commission rates have drifted down slowly for 30 years — from about 3% to 2.7% — driven by rising home prices, not the settlement. The main change was moving compensation talks off the MLS and into direct negotiation.
How We Researched This Article
Every commission figure in this article was verified against primary and named institutional sources before publication. Buyer’s-agent and combined commission rates come from two datasets: Redfin’s tracking of buyer’s-agent commissions on closed home sales, reported quarterly through Q3 2025 (the most recent quarter Redfin has published), and Clever Real Estate’s nationwide survey of 533 agents conducted in February 2026, which reported a 5.70% average total commission — up from 5.44% in Clever’s 2025 survey of 806 agents. Where these sources differ, it reflects methodology — Redfin measures its own closed transactions, while Clever surveys agents across markets — so we cite each figure to its specific source rather than blending them.
The long-term commission trend and the analysis of why the settlement had limited effect are drawn from the Federal Reserve Board’s FEDS Note “Commissions and Omissions: Trends in Real Estate Broker Compensation” (May 12, 2025), which analyzed CoreLogic MLS data from 1995 to 2023. Settlement terms, the $418 million figure, and the August 17, 2024 effective date were confirmed against the National Association of REALTORS® settlement disclosures. The median existing-home price of $434,100 is from NAR’s Existing-Home Sales report for July 2026, published August 11, 2026.
Dollar figures in the tables are modeled calculations, applying published percentage rates to stated sale prices; they are illustrative, not measured transaction outcomes, and actual costs vary by market, negotiation, and agent. Discount and flat-fee brokerage prices reflect publicly listed vendor pricing as of 2025–2026 and change frequently. This research was last conducted in August 2026. All figures were verified against named primary sources before publication.