A report from Market Watch. "A new class-action lawsuit takes aim at real estate agents and the tools they use to do business.
The suit was filed in Chicago on behalf of anyone who sold a home through one of 20 of the largest listing services in the country over the past five years. It charges that the mighty Washington-based lobby National Association of Realtors, as well as the four largest national real estate brokerages, and the Multiple Listing Services they use, have conspired to require anyone selling a home to pay the commission of the broker representing their buyer 'at an inflated amount,' in violation of federal antitrust law."

"In order to list a property on one of the many regional databases known as Multiple Listing Services, agents must abide by the Buyer Broker Rule. Listing on the MLS is essential for making a sale, and most MLSs are controlled by local NAR associations."

"As MarketWatch has previously reported, many housing observers call Realtors a 'cartel' for the way they purposely steer clients to transactions in which traditional ways of doing business are observed."

"In response to a request for comment, NAR said, 'The complaint is baseless and contains an abundance of false claims. The U.S. Courts have routinely found that Multiple Listing Services are pro-competitive and benefit consumers by creating great efficiencies in the home-buying and selling process. NAR looks forward to obtaining a similar precedent regarding this filing.'"

"It’s worth noting that the suit was filed roughly four months after the expiration of a Department of Justice consent decree against the National Association of Realtors. That settlement was struck in 2008 after the federal government spent several years unsuccessfully trying to rein in what it called anti-competitive behavior from NAR, which felt under attack from internet upstarts."

From Forbes. "In Moerhl v National Association Realtors (NAR), home sellers from across the nation are claiming that NAR’s compensation policies—which require all member brokers demand blanket, non-negotiable buyer-side commission fees when listing a home on a Multiple Listing Service—is a violation of antitrust law. Realogy Holdings, HomeServices of America, RE/MAX and Keller Williams are also named in the suit."

"According to Adam Swanson, an experienced real estate attorney at McCarter & English, Moerhl and Co. are claiming the current NAR-MLS-agent payment arrangement 'prevents buyer’s agents from negotiating their own commission, which would likely be less.'"

"The claim specifically cites a 2002 study in the International Real Estate Review journal that says that if buyer’s agents negotiated their own compensation, listing commissions for sellers would be closer to 3%, rather than the 5 to 6% seen in most markets."

"'In this way, plaintiff claims that he was harmed by having to pay a buyer’s agent and, therefore a higher listing commission than if he only had to pay his agent,' Swanson said. Swanson says the suit is also claiming that the payment arrangement encourages agents to steer buyers toward higher cost (and higher commission) listings, as well as listings exclusive to MLS, both of which are 'anti-competitive.'"

"According to Michael Walsh, CEO at Exclusively Buyers, a real estate firm that works only with homebuyers, 'This is no garden variety lawsuit.' 'Potential damages are estimated at $54 billion,' Walsh said. 'The plaintiffs allege collusion, hidden payments and anti-competitive practices designed to maintain real estate commissions at artificially high levels.'"

"If the plaintiffs win out, it could mean a change to how Multiple Listing Services and real estate agents work—and get paid. Currently, in most transactions, the home’s seller pays a 5 to 6% commission fee, which is split between their agent—the listing agent—and the agent representing the buyer. Walsh calls the arrangement 'absurd.'"

"'This lawsuit could—hopefully, will—change the way real estate brokerages operate in the future,' he said. 'Right now, buyers don’t negotiate the fee for their agent. The seller pays. The seller is actually paying for the agent who will be negotiating against their financial interests. This is exactly why buyers are often skeptical as to whether their agent is working for them or the seller or just enjoying a nice payday for doing nothing.'"

"Robert Hahn, the founder at real estate consulting firm 7DS Associates, says the repercussions could be sweeping. 'If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs here, REALTOR Associations evaporate, the MLS likely dies off, and the entire infrastructure of residential real estate in the United States has to be remade,' he wrote when the suit was filed last week."