How home buying has evolved under new NAR rules

Lower agent commissions aren't the only emerging trend in the housing market. 

Home buyers today are signing multi-month viewing contracts with agents and requesting more homeowners insurance incentives, a survey by fintech Homelight finds. The behaviors are developing both in response to new rules around home selling, and steep unaffordability. 

Homelight surveyed over 750 agents it identified as top performers between Oct. 30 and Nov. 15. Consumers are relying on agents more than ever, with the National Association of Realtors reporting a record-low 6% of for-sale-by-owner transactions this past year. 

Nearly half of them said sellers are accepting the traditional 3% listing agent commission, but 33% said they're most frequently seeing requests for 2.50% rates, following the NAR's commission rule changes in August. 

A leading 34% of agents said homebuyers meanwhile are requesting 2.50% commission rates, as they weigh their burden alongside weighty mortgage rates and higher home prices. Those results follow a Redfin report finding commissions trending down, albeit slightly, following NAR's mandates.

Another rule prohibits commissions from being advertised on Multiple Listing Services. Agents have seemingly easily adapted, with 67% reporting to Homelight those conversations taking place between themselves directly. 

Just 3% of agents said they're discussing commissions during showings. Only 2% of agents said they're using third-party commission sharing platforms, which emerged this summer in anticipation of a behavioral shift in negotiations.

Agents now required to enter into written agreements with home shoppers are also securing longer-term customer relationships. Forty-two percent of agents say they're inking multi-month showing agreements, double the 21% of shoppers opting for single-showing agreements. Less common for buyers are weekly, weekend and 24-hour viewing contracts. 

Homeowners insurance is also becoming a stronger negotiating point as costs for coverage soars. Agents rank a home with lower insurance costs as the fifth-strongest incentive for a sale, behind various renovations like a new kitchen. Another 5% of sellers are also temporarily covering their buyer's homeowners insurance premiums. 

The adaptations come as mortgage activity wavers with rates still in the mid-6% range. Purchase activity is relatively strong, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, although it slipped to begin December. The lock-in effect appears to be holding, and Fannie Mae's latest forecast has rates staying above 6% in 2025. 

"What we're finding in this market is people saying, 'I'm married to the rate,' and rates shouldn't be that way," said Richard Haddad, an executive editor with Homelight.