[August 10, 2016]

Survey: 60 Percent of Home Sellers Now Save Money on Commissions

Sixty percent of people who sold a home in the past year got a discount on the commission they paid to their real estate agent, according to a survey of more than 2,000 people conducted in June by SurveyMonkey Audience (News - Alert) and commissioned by Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage.

Among homebuyers, 46 percent said their agent gave them a refund or closing cost contribution of more than $100, with the average savings amount for that group being $3,693. Last year, 37 percent of buyers said they received savings from their agent worth $500 or more.

"While market forces are driving home prices up, innovation is helping to drive commissions and fees down," said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson (News - Alert). "These survey findings suggest that the industry is becoming more dependent on technology and less dependent on the local agent as the sole source of information about homes for sale. The fact that savings are so widespread indicates that agents and brokers are adapting by using technology to work more efficiently and charge less money."

Findings about for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) and other alternative approaches to buying and selling homes include:

• A quarter of people who sold a home in the past year did so without the help of a full-service agent:
  • 15% of sellers used a limited-service agent.
  • 10% of sellers listed their home without an agent's help. This is slightly higher than the latest figure reported by the National Association of Realtors, that FSBOs accounted for 8% of home sales in 2014.
• People selling million-dollar-plus homes were the most likely to use the FSBO approach, with 23% going that route.
• More than half of people (54%) who sold without a full-service agent did so to save money. For those whose homes sold for $750,000 or more, the most commonly cited reason was that they didn't think a full-service agent was necessary (41%).
• 16% of homebuyers bought without an agent's help, little changed from last year.
• 69% of survey respondents said they are open to an alternative to the traditional real estate service, up from 64% last year.
• Asked about agent incentives, 52% of respondents said they prefer a purely commissioned agent. One-third of respondentsdislike the idea of a purely commissioned agent.
• 70% of people who bought or sold a home with Redfin in the past year said they would recommend their agent to a friend or colleague, little changed from last year.
• 57% of people who bought or sold with other brokerages in the past year said they would recommend their agent, up from 49% last year.

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About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the customer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the most accurate home-value estimate online, the Redfin Estimate. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commission. Redfin serves more than 83 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $31 billion in home sales, and saved customers more than $335 million in fees, and counting.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center.

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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005301/en/

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