A report from the Orlando Sentinel in Florida. "For the first time since 2012, home prices are falling in metro Orlando, new data and real estate experts say. After seven years of month-over-month increases, the median price of a Central Florida home dropped in May, according to Zillow. It ends an incredible 86-month streak where the value of the median home shot up 94% to $239,200, Zillow said."

"The inventory of homes for sale has grown for six straight months, too, ORRA said. 'It looks like we are at the end of a long market cycle,' said Ken Johnson, a business professor at Florida Atlantic University who studies real estate. 'It’s going to be uncomfortable, and it might take a while to sell your house. But it won’t be like it was in 2008.'"

"Agents across Central Florida said conditions have shifted during the eight or nine months. Homes take longer to sell, and multiple bids are more rare. 'It does seem like it is getting slower,' said Carrie Courtney, a real estate agent who operates mostly in the Kissimmee area. 'The last few years we were seeing the multiple offers coming in, and that’s dried up. We’ve seen more price reductions, too.'"

"The biggest slowdown has come with the most expensive properties, she said. Homes selling for more than $400,000 have been slower to sell, she said, because of the abundance of new homes built in the area. New construction may be creating competition for existing homes. Builders started work on 16,238 homes in 2018, the highest number since 2006."

From Mansion Global on Florida. "A 6,618-square-foot home on South Florida’s Fisher Island was relisted Wednesday for just under $12 million, according to listing broker Robert Conway of Douglas Elliman. That’s a more than $2 million price cut from November, when the six-bedroom, eight-bathroom condominium was listed by another brokerage for almost $14 million, according to property records."

"Mr. Conway called that pricing 'overzealous,' and said the current asking price is more in line with recent sales on the island."

The Houston Chronicle in Texas. "For the average Houston home, priced at $310,700, real estate agent commissions cost $18,600. If the same deal had closed in London, the homeseller would have only paid agents about $3,700. The reasons for the difference are at the center of a class-action suit that could dramatically change the way homes are bought and sold in the United States."

"The case, brought by a Minnesota homeowner, seeks to strike down the standard practice of agents splitting commissions. If successful, the suit would potentially save individual home sellers thousands of dollars in commissions, but it would also cut the earnings of real estate agents across the country — including some 37,000 in the Houston area — and put more pressure on traditional brokerages, already contending with a host of discount and online competitors."

"NAR, which is being sued along with Austin-based Keller Williams Realty, Re/Max Holdings, Homeservices of America and Realogy Holdings (owner of Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International Realty and other household-name brokerages), argued the complaint characterized its rules incorrectly."

"Court filings also showed the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into real estate agent fees. In the investigation, which is separate from the Moehrl case, the DOJ has demanded information from CoreLogic, which provides many real estate agents with platforms where they can share listings, known as multiple listing services. The inquiry centers on whether or not multiple listing services prevent competition in the real estate agent fee structure."

"Gavin Brazg, the founder of the U.K. homeseller webite the Advisory , which conducts an annual survey of agent fees, said even in the pre-internet era, British buyers did not usually turn to agents to help them find homes. Instead, they would walk down to real estate agencies in the area they wanted to live and ask to see their listings."

"Brazg said the internet made it too easy for real estate agencies to set up shop, and the oversupply of brokers is driving down revenues and pushing many brokerages to the financial breaking point. 'There’s just too many real estate agencies in our countries,' Brazg said. With the low fees come financial issues for the agencies. 'There’s going to be massive closures,' he predicted."

"Alex Doubet, chief executive of the discount brokerage Door, said that he foresaw a similar winnowing of real estate agencies in the U.S. if real estate agent fees fall to U.K. levels. 'If the average fee on the buy side is going to go from $6,000 or $7,000 to $1,000 or $2,000, you now have a situation where you have to do more volume to make that an economic business,' Doubet said. He suggested that large firms could invest in technology allowing real estate agents to increase their volume of deals, but traditional firms without such technology may struggle. 'You can’t survive if your fee is cut by two-thirds.'"