What the New $120 Million NAR Commission Settlement Means for Bay Area Homebuyers
If you bought a home anywhere in the country over the past several years, there is a new class action settlement you should know about. It is separate from the earlier commission lawsuits many of you may remember from 2024, and this one is specifically for buyers rather than sellers.
The Backstory
This case, known as Tuccori, et al. v. At World Properties LLC, et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The homebuyers behind the lawsuit claimed that the National Association of Realtors, along with a long list of real estate brokerages, conspired to raise and fix real estate broker commissions. The allegation is that this coordination led to inflated home prices and reduced the level of service buyers actually received from their agents.
I want to be clear about something here. None of the defendants have admitted to any wrongdoing. Settlements like this are often reached to avoid the cost and uncertainty of a prolonged trial, not because a court has ruled that the conduct actually happened. Still, the dollar figure is significant, and if you purchased a home during the applicable years, it is worth understanding whether you qualify.
Who Is Being Sued
This settlement covers a wide net of organizations. The National Association of Realtors is named directly, along with these brokerages and companies:
Anywhere Real Estate Inc., Compass Inc., eXp World Holdings Inc., HomeServices of America Inc., BHH Affiliates LLC, HSF Affiliates LLC, Hanna Holdings Inc., United Real Estate Holdings LLC (doing business as United Real Estate Group), Douglas Elliman Inc., At World Properties LLC, Baird & Warner Inc., Real Estate One Inc., Silvercreek Realty Group LLC, Equity Realtors LLC (doing business as Equity Real Estate), NextHome Inc., Realty Executives Intl. Svcs. LLC, Shorewest Realtors Inc., Side Inc., Engel & Volkers Americas Inc. and Engel & Volkers GmbH, The Keyes Company, Illustrated Properties LLC, The Real Brokerage Inc., Real Broker LLC, Vanguard Properties Inc., Fathom Realty LLC, HomeSmart International LLC, Realty ONE Group Inc., Kempa and Associates (doing business as Realty ONE Group Excel), and Umro Realty Corp (doing business as The Agency).
That is a long list, and it includes some of the largest names in residential real estate alongside a number of regional and independent brokerages. It reflects how broadly the plaintiffs argued that commission practices were coordinated across the industry rather than isolated to one or two firms.
Who Qualifies
The settlement is meant for people who purchased a home that was listed on a multiple listing service, or MLS, anywhere in the United States, where a commission was paid to any brokerage in connection with that purchase. This is a buyer settlement, so it does not include people who sold a home and are already part of the existing seller settlements from the earlier round of NAR litigation, and it does not include anyone who chooses to exclude themselves from this case.
The exact start date of the class period depends on which defendants are involved and where the home was located, since different defendant groups negotiated slightly different terms. For the group of defendants that includes NAR itself along with Compass, eXp, Anywhere, HomeServices of America, and Douglas Elliman, California falls into the window that runs from January 25, 2017 through June 25, 2026. Other states have earlier start dates going back as far as 2006 for Puerto Rico, and other groupings begin in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, or 2018 depending on the state. For the second group of defendants, which includes many of the regional and independent brokerages I listed above, the relevant period generally runs from December 8, 2017, 2018, or 2019 through June 25, 2026, again depending on the state where the home was listed.
If you bought a home here in Contra Costa, Alameda, or Santa Clara County during those years and a commission was paid as part of that transaction, you likely fall within the class.
What You Could Receive
Under the terms of the settlement, eligible class members can receive a cash payment based on how much they paid in commissions at the time of purchase. Buyers who paid the highest commissions are expected to receive the largest payments, and the exact amount for any individual will vary. The total settlement fund is $120,334,500.
Beyond the money itself, the defendants also agreed to maintain or extend certain business practice changes intended to keep real estate commissions competitive going forward, building on some of the changes that came out of the earlier seller-side settlements.
Key Dates to Know
- Exclusion and objection deadline: September 17, 2026
- Claim form deadline: October 27, 2026
- Final approval hearing: November 2, 2026
If you think you may qualify, the claim needs to be submitted well before that October deadline, and any decision to opt out or object needs to happen even earlier, by mid-September.
A Note of Caution
Claim forms for settlements like this are submitted under penalty of perjury, so it is worth taking the time to confirm you actually meet the eligibility requirements before filing. The settlement administrator handling claims and questions is a company called Homebuyer Antitrust Litigation Settlement Administrator, and they are the appropriate contact for anything related to claim status or payment timing. I am not a settlement administrator or an attorney, so I cannot advise on individual eligibility or walk you through the claims process itself, but I wanted you to have a clear picture of what this settlement covers, who is involved, and the dates that matter, since it touches so many people who have bought homes in our area over the past several years.
