The Commission Squeeze

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Nationally, the average commission on a house sale has slipped to 5.1% from 5.5% a few years ago, in part because discounters are making a dent. Nonetheless, house prices are rising so fast that agents are stuffing their pockets as never before. The Department of Justice is reviewing the new rules proposed by the N.A.R. to restrict access to the multiple-listing services with an eye to determining if any antitrust issues are involved. "There is no intent to keep anybody from accessing this data," says N.A.R. spokesman Steve Cook, who points to the group's website of listings. Not all firms would be free to use those listings, though, and critics argue that the data really belong to home sellers--not to the real estate agents who maintain the listings. "It's clearly in the clients' best interest for as many people as possible to see their listing," says Rob Atkinson, a director at the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. "But Realtors are worried about their commissions." So are we all.