Legal News

DOJ Strikes Deal With Realtor Group. How Will it Affect Consumers?

By Dan Slater

A recent settlement struck between the DOJ and the National Association of Realtors — over an antitrust suit alleging that the NAR improperly controlled how home listings are displayed on the Internet — might be a boon to home buyers and sellers. Or it might not.

The DOJ’s Deborah A. Garza, the deputy assistant AG for antitrust, called the settlement “a win for consumers, certainly, who will now have the benefit of unrestricted competition.” But Laurie Janik, the NAR’s GC, told the NYT that the settlement would have no real impact on home buyers or sellers. “I don’t think they’ll see anything different,” she said. “This lawsuit never had anything to do with commission rates, or discount brokerages.” (Here’s another story from the WSJ.)

The 2005 suit, filed in federal court in Chicago, challenged Realtor rules that allowed brokers to block their listings of homes for sale from being displayed on the Web sites of other brokers that offer discounted commissions or flat-rate fees. Under the settlement, the Realtors agreed to adopt new rules that don’t discriminate against online brokers. The settlement says online brokers should be allowed to provide the same information via the Internet that conventional brokers offer to people who walk into their offices.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 28, 2008 (boomark / email).