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Commissions and Omissions: Trends in Real Estate Broker Compensation, Accessible Data
Figure 1. Average commission rate over time
Graph shows the change in commission rate over time for two lines, one red and one blue. The x-axis is labeled "Year" and goes from 1990 to 2030. The y-axis is labeled "Commission rate". Both lines are downward trending with a spike between 2005 and 2010, and another spike starting in 2022. The legend has one row and two columns. The first column corresponds with the blue line for "All states". The second column corresponds with the red line for "States with good coverage in 1995."
Figure 2. Distribution of commissions, 2002
Figure is a histogram of blue bars with y-axis labeled "Percent" and x-axis labeled "Commission rate." The range of the x-axis is 0 to 4. The range of the y-axis is 0 to 60. The highest density of rates (tallest blue bar) is at 3.
Figure 3. Distribution of commissions, 2022
Figure is a histogram of blue bars with y-axis labeled "Percent" and x-axis labeled "Commission rate." The range of the x-axis is 0 to 4. The range of the y-axis is 0 to 40. The highest density of rates (tallest blue bar) is at 3. The second tallest bar is at 2.5, and the third tallest bar is at 2.
Figure 4. Distribution of median rate by CBSA, 2022
Figure is a histogram of blue bars with y-axis labeled "Percent" and x-axis labeled "Commission rate." The range of the x-axis is 0 to 4. The range of the y-axis is 0 to 50. The highest density of rates (tallest blue bar) is at 3. The second tallest bar is at 2.5.
Figure 5. Median commission rates by MSA, 2022
Figure is a map of the land area of the US with state and CBSA boundaries drawn in black. The legend is to the right of the map and labeled "Commission rate." The legend entries are boxes colored maroon (labeled 3-4%), green (labeled 2.5-3%), light blue (labeled 2-2.5%), and light purple (labeled <= 2%). Each CBSA is colored based on its median commission rate: maroon for 3-4%, green for 2.5-3%, light blue for 2-2.5%, light purple for <= 2%. The majority of the light purple CBSAs are in the northeast US, and there is a concentration of light blue CBSAs on the west coast.
Figure 6. Distribution of commission rates for NY-NJ-PA MSA, 2022
Figure is a histogram of blue bars, with x-axis labeled "Commission rate" and y-axis labeled "Percent." The x-axis range is 1 to 4, and the y-axis range is 0 to 50. The tallest blue bar is at 2.
Figure 7. Mean vs. standard deviation of rates, 2002
Graph is a scatter plot with x-axis titled "Average commission rate" and y-axis titled "Standard deviation." The x-axis range is 2 to 3.5. The y-axis range is 0 to 1.5. The graph shows blue dots corresponding to the average CBSA commission rate. There is a red line indicating the line of best fit for the blue dots, which is slightly downward sloping with a y-axis intercept at .43. Lower average commission rate dots have slightly higher standard deviations, and higher average commission rate dots have lower standard deviations. There are two outlying blue dots with average commission rates less than 2.5 and standard deviations around 1.
Figure 8. Mean vs. standard deviation of rates, 2022
Graph is a scatter plot with x-axis titled "Average commission rate" and y-axis titled "Standard deviation." The x-axis range is 1 to 3.5. The y-axis range is 0 to 1.5. The graph shows blue dots corresponding to the average CBSA commission rate. There is a red line indicating the line of best fit for the blue dots, which is downward sloping with a y-axis intercept at .59. Lower average commission rate dots have higher standard deviations, and higher average commission rate dots have lower standard deviations. There is one outlying dot, with a commission rate of around 2 and a standard deviation of around 1.5