What Is the Controversial Real Estate Lawsuit?

The controversial real estate lawsuit most people are asking about is Sitzer/Burnett v. National Association of Realtors, a Missouri federal class action in which a jury ordered NAR and several major brokerages to pay nearly $1.8 billion for conspiring to inflate the commissions home sellers paid to real estate agents.¹ The October 2023 verdict triggered nearly $1 billion in settlements and forced a nationwide rewrite of how agents are paid, with new rules taking effect in August 2024.²

What the Lawsuit Alleged

Filed in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the case was brought by roughly 500,000 home sellers against NAR, HomeServices of America, Keller Williams Realty, Anywhere Real Estate, and RE/MAX.³¹

The core claim was simple. NAR rules required anyone listing a home on a multiple listing service to make a blanket offer of compensation to the buyer’s agent. Sellers effectively had no choice but to pay both their own agent and the agent working for the person buying the home. The plaintiffs argued that arrangement violated the Sherman Act and Missouri antitrust law.³

On October 31, 2023, the jury agreed. It found the defendants had conspired to keep commissions artificially high and awarded nearly $1.8 billion in damages, a figure that could have been tripled to more than $5.4 billion under federal antitrust law.¹⁴

What the Defendants Agreed to Pay

Facing the threat of trebled damages, each defendant settled. The combined recovery from the agreements now exceeds $997 million.⁵

NAR agreed to pay $418 million over four years and overhaul the rules at the center of the case.⁶⁷⁸⁹¹⁰

What Sellers Can Expect From the Settlement

The class covers anyone who sold a home listed on a U.S. multiple listing service and paid a brokerage commission during qualifying date ranges, which vary by MLS but generally run from as early as 2014 through February 2024.¹¹ More than 21 million homes sold in that window.¹²

Individual payouts will be small. Estimates range from roughly $13 to $63 per seller, depending on how many valid claims are filed and which brokerage settlements end up in the final mix.¹² Attorney fees will take roughly a third of the funds before distribution.¹³ The claims deadline for NAR and most brokerage settlements was May 9, 2025; later deadlines apply to settlements involving smaller brokerages.¹⁴

The New Rules for Buying and Selling a Home

The settlements rewrote how real estate agents get paid. The practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024.²

Offers of buyer-agent compensation can no longer appear on any multiple listing service. Previously, an MLS listing typically included a preset commission for whoever brought a buyer. That information is now banned from the platform. Sellers can still choose to pay the buyer’s agent, but the offer has to be communicated elsewhere, through flyers, emails, or brokerage websites.¹⁵

Buyers must now sign a written agreement with their agent before touring a home. That agreement has to state exactly how much the agent will be paid, as a specific dollar amount or percentage rather than an open-ended range.¹⁵ Agents cannot accept more compensation from any source than what the buyer agreed to in writing. All listing and buyer agreements must also include a conspicuous statement that commissions are fully negotiable and not set by law.²

Have Commissions Actually Dropped

So far, not by much. Redfin data shows the average buyer’s agent commission was 2.4% in the first quarter of 2025, compared with 2.36% when the rules took effect in the third quarter of 2024 and 2.43% a year earlier. For homes above $1 million, commissions dipped slightly to 2.17%. For homes under $500,000, they rose to 2.49%. Most sellers continue to offer compensation to the buyer’s agent, though some markets have shifted toward 2% rather than the traditional 2.5% or 3%.¹⁶

Negotiation is more common but still not the norm. A 2025 survey found about 37% of recent sellers negotiated or tried to negotiate the commission, while roughly 46% did not. Only about 27% of buyers tried to negotiate.¹⁶

First-time buyers face a new source of confusion. Some mistakenly believe the written-agreement requirement means they must now pay agent fees out of pocket, on top of a down payment. In practice, most sellers in competitive markets have kept covering buyer-agent commissions to attract the widest pool of buyers.¹⁷ Agents worry that a future seller’s market could change that, potentially squeezing first-time buyers out.¹⁶

The Appeals That Could Unwind Everything

Two sets of appeals in the Eighth Circuit could still reshape the outcome.

Homebuyer James Mullis, a plaintiff in the separate Batton lawsuits, and Spring Way Center, a lead plaintiff in a Pennsylvania copycat case, appealed the final approval of the Anywhere, RE/MAX, and Keller Williams settlements shortly after they were approved in May 2024.¹⁸ Spring Way Center argued the $83.5 million Anywhere payout was inadequate. Mullis argued the settlements improperly released claims belonging to homebuyers, who were not part of the plaintiff class.¹⁹ No ruling has been issued. The settlements remain stayed, and no payments from those funds have been distributed to class members.⁶

A separate appeal from University at Buffalo law professor Tanya Monestier, who sold a home during the class period, goes to the legitimacy of the NAR settlement itself. She argues the named plaintiffs, all past sellers, lacked constitutional standing to settle for forward-looking rule changes because they face no imminent risk of being harmed again.²⁰²¹²² If the appeal succeeds, it could void court approval of the injunctive portions of the settlement and unravel the practice changes that came with it.

Other Lawsuits You May Hear About

The verdict spawned dozens of follow-on cases. The largest, Gibson v. NAR, was filed the same day the Sitzer/Burnett verdict came down. It expanded the litigation to Compass, eXp World Holdings, Redfin, Weichert Realtors, Douglas Elliman, and United Real Estate, with potential damages estimated above $200 billion before trebling.²³ Nine brokerage defendants settled for roughly $110.6 million, with Compass paying $57.5 million.²⁴ A $42 million package involving William Raveis, Hanna Holdings, Windermere, EXIT Realty, and others received approval in 2025 and early 2026.⁵

Moehrl v. NAR, filed in Illinois in March 2019, is a nationwide class action against NAR and HomeServices that was seeking over $13 billion in damages. The Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson settlements also resolve claims in Moehrl.⁵

In Massachusetts, Nosalek v. MLS PIN drew the Department of Justice’s attention. The DOJ filed a supplemental statement in March 2025 opposing the proposed settlement as “cosmetic.” After the parties revised it to explicitly prohibit offers of cooperative compensation on the MLS PIN platform, the DOJ withdrew its objection, and Judge Patti Saris granted final approval to the $3.95 million settlement on September 29, 2025.²⁵²⁶²⁷

The Batton lawsuits stand apart because the plaintiffs are homebuyers rather than sellers, arguing they too were harmed by inflated commissions built into purchase prices. In November 2025, a federal judge struck the proposed class definition without prejudice, letting the plaintiffs try again with a narrower class.²⁸

Where Things Stand

Over $876 million in settlements have received final court approval, but the Eighth Circuit appeals could upend the Anywhere, RE/MAX, and Keller Williams agreements, and the Monestier appeal raises constitutional questions that could reach the NAR settlement itself.⁵ A trial against Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the parent of HomeServices, is expected in 2027.²⁹ The practice changes are in effect and reshaping how agents and buyers interact, even if commission rates have barely moved. Whether the disruption translates into meaningful savings for consumers is still an open question.

1
Syracuse Law Review. $1.8 Billion Is Only the Beginning: How Burnett v. NAR Could Change the Real Estate Industry
2
National Association of Realtors. NAR Settlement FAQs
3
U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri. Burnett et al v. National Association of Realtors et al, Case No. 19-cv-332
4
Ohio Bar Association. NAR Settlement Brings New Changes to Buying and Selling Real Estate
5
Cohen Milstein. Moehrl v. National Association of Realtors et al
6
Real Estate Commission Litigation. Burnett Settlement
7
Pennsylvania Association of Realtors. National Lawsuit Updates
8
HousingWire. Judge Approves Brokerage Commission Lawsuit Settlement Agreements
9
The Real Deal. HomeServices of America Strikes $250M Settlement
10
Real Estate Commission Litigation. HomeServices of America Settlement Notice
11
Chris Whalen CPA. Broker Commission Antitrust Website
12
Orange County Register. Sold a Home Recently? Here’s What You’ll Get From the $418 Million Realtor Settlement
13
Yahoo Finance. NAR Settlement
14
Real Estate Commission Litigation. Real Estate Commission Litigation
15
National Association of Realtors. Compensation, Commission, and Concessions
16
The Mortgage Point. Measuring the Impact of NAR Settlements on Agent Commissions
17
CapCenter. What’s Actually Changed Since the NAR Settlement
18
HousingWire. Two Parties Appeal Final Approval of RE/MAX, Keller Williams, and Anywhere Settlement Agreements
19
Bloomberg Law. Huge Realtor Settlement Appeals Get Probed for Fairness, Scope
20
University at Buffalo School of Law. Opening Brief of Tanya Monestier
21
RISMedia. So You Thought the NAR Settlement Was Over? Think Again
22
University at Buffalo School of Law. Professor Tanya Monestier
23
HousingWire. What’s Different About the $200B Gibson Commission Lawsuit
24
HousingWire. Court Grants Final Approval to Eight Brokerage Settlements in Gibson Suit
25
HousingWire. The DOJ Isn’t Done With Realtors and Their Commissions
26
HousingWire. DOJ Withdraws Objection to MLS PIN Nosalek Commission Suit Settlement
27
RISMedia. MLS PIN Final Approval
28
HousingWire. Judge Tosses Class Status in Batton Commission Lawsuit
29
Inman. Michael Ketchmark: Every Move You Make, We’ll Be Watching You