Survey: Most Agents Offer Buyers a Rebate or Commission Discount

In 2002, about 60% of agents received a 3% commission. Twenty years later, only about 40% of commissions hit that mark.

Following last year’s NAR policy changes, we wondered if the news coverage would lead to more consumers asking to negotiate. Now we have some answers. Here’s what more than 300 agents had to say about the state of commissions, rebates, and more.

Commission rebates and discounts are common

When working with a buyer, 75% of agents report that they offer a commission rebate or a discounted commission.

As we saw in our 2025 Consumer Housing Trends Report for Agents, buyers 49 and younger were more likely to receive a rebate than buyers 50 and over. Buyers in their 30s were most likely to successfully negotiate a rebate. Among those who used an agent, 28% received a rebate.

Agents may not love the idea of handing out rebates. But there is a silver lining: Buyers who received a rebate typically bought more expensive homes than buyers who didn’t receive a rebate. To offset the commission change, perhaps you could agree to a certain price range that would trigger a rebate.

Many agents expect to negotiate their commission more

In March, 37% of agents said they expect a higher share of their clients to negotiate commissions in the future. And 31% said their clients already negotiate most or all of the time.

If more clients are looking to negotiate, now’s the time to prepare your response. Quantify the value you provide by showing them the number of hours you’ll work, your track record for getting good deals, and any costs you take on.

There's short-term caution and long-term hope

At the end of 2024, most agents were optimistic that home prices and transactions would keep going up. In 2025, some of that optimism has faded.

In February, only 11% of agents expected transactions to decrease the next 30 days. In March, however, the share of agents expecting transactions to decrease doubled to 22%, and they ended up being right at a national level.

Long term, though, most agents are still bullish on the market. In March, more agents expected transactions to increase in the next year (64%) than next month (51%). More agents also expected home prices to increase in the next year (57%) than next month (43%).

As of May 2025, Zillow economists forecasted that existing home sales will top 4.1 million by the end of 2025, which would be a 1.4% increase from last year.