Search Results
Briefing
Real Estate Commissions and Home Search Efficiency
In the U.S. residential housing market, homebuyers' agents typically offer free house showings and collect a commission equal to 3 percent of the price of the home bought by their clients. Our analysis shows that, by deviating from cost basis, this compensation structure may lead to elevated home prices, overused agent services and prolonged home searches. We explain that shifting to a simple a la carte compensation structure may improve home search efficiency and social welfare.
Journal Article
The Evolving Homebuying Landscape: An Update with 2023 Data
The years immediately following the pandemic saw large swings in the housing market, from a rapid growth in prices and homebuying activity in the early years to a sharp contraction in the market as price and interest rate increases challenged homebuying affordability. As part of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s work to understand the economic experiences of the communities we serve to inform monetary policy and other areas of our work, we released a report in the fall of 2024 examining trends in pandemic homebuying patterns through 2022. That analysis found that many groups of ...