IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jrefec/v54y2017i2d10.1007_s11146-015-9541-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Commission Splits in Real Estate Transactions

Author

Listed:
  • Xun Bian

    (Longwood University)

  • Bennie D. Waller

    (Longwood University)

  • Abdullah Yavas

    (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Abstract

We examine commission splits between listing and selling agents in real estate transactions. We construct a theoretical model to show that agency problems arise when a listing agent attempts to maximize his or her payoff while setting the commission split. Mitigation to these agency problems can be achieved through the imposition of a limited duration on listing contracts. Our model produces several testable hypotheses, which are supported by empirical evidence. We find property listings with higher list prices and quick sales are associated with lower commission splits. Commission split is more likely to be higher when the listed property has a high degree of atypicality and/or is overpriced. Additionally, agent-owned properties pay higher commission splits.

Suggested Citation

  • Xun Bian & Bennie D. Waller & Abdullah Yavas, 2017. "Commission Splits in Real Estate Transactions," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 165-187, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jrefec:v:54:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11146-015-9541-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11146-015-9541-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11146-015-9541-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11146-015-9541-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven D. Levitt & Chad Syverson, 2008. "Market Distortions When Agents Are Better Informed: The Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 599-611, November.
    2. Williams, Joseph T, 1998. "Agency and Brokerage of Real Assets in Competitive Equilibrium," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(2), pages 239-280.
    3. Sykes, Alan O, 1993. "Some Thoughts on the Real Estate Puzzle: Comment [Commissions and Conflicts in Agency Arrangements: Lawyers, Real Estate Brokers, Underwriters, and Other Agents' Rewards]," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 541-551, April.
    4. John H. Crockett, 1982. "Competition and Efficiency in Transacting: The Case of Residential Real Estate Brokerage," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 10(2), pages 209-227, June.
    5. Thomas S. Zorn & James E. Larsen, 1986. "The Incentive Effects of Flat‐Fee and Percentage Commissions for Real Estate Brokers," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 14(1), pages 24-47, March.
    6. Bennie D. Waller & Raymond T. Brastow, 2013. "Dual Agency Representation: Incentive Conflicts or Efficiencies," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 35(2), pages 83-102.
    7. Ronald Rutherford & Thomas Springer & Abdullah Yavas, 2007. "Evidence of Information Asymmetries in the Market for Residential Condominiums," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 23-38, July.
    8. J’Noel Gardiner & Jeffrey Heisler & Jarl Kallberg & Crocker Liu, 2007. "The Impact of Dual Agency," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 39-55, July.
    9. Terrence Clauretie & Nasser Daneshvary, 2008. "Principal–Agent Conflict and Broker Effort Near Listing Contract Expiration: The Case of Residential Properties," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 147-161, August.
    10. Rutherford, R.C. & Springer, T.M. & Yavas, A., 2005. "Conflicts between principals and agents: evidence from residential brokerage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 627-665, June.
    11. Timothy E. Jares & James E. Larsen & Thomas S. Zorn, 2000. "An Optimal Incentive System For Real Estate Agents," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 49-59.
    12. Anglin, Paul M & Arnott, Richard, 1991. "Residential Real Estate Brokerage as a Principal-Agent Problem," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 99-125, June.
    13. Abdullah Yavas, 2001. "Impossibility of a Competitive Equilibrium in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 21(3), pages 187-200.
    14. Springer, Thomas M, 1996. "Single-Family Housing Transactions: Seller Motivations, Price, and Marketing Time," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 237-254, November.
    15. Michael A. Arnold, 1992. "The Principal‐Agent Relationship in Real Estate Brokerage Services," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 20(1), pages 89-106, March.
    16. Bian, Xun & Waller, Bennie D. & Turnbull, Geoffrey K. & Wentland, Scott A., 2015. "How many listings are too many? Agent inventory externalities and the residential housing market," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 130-143.
    17. Levmore, Saul, 1993. "Commissions and Conflicts in Agency Arrangements: Lawyers, Real Estate Brokers, Underwriters, and Other Agents' Rewards," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 503-539, April.
    18. Lynn Fisher & Abdullah Yavas, 2010. "A Case for Percentage Commission Contracts: The Impact of a “Race” Among Agents," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-13, January.
    19. Abdullah Yavas & Shiawee Yang, 1995. "The Strategic Role of Listing Price in Marketing Real Estate: Theory and Evidence," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 23(3), pages 347-368, September.
    20. Thomas J. Miceli, 1991. "The Multiple Listing Service, Commission Splits, and Broker Effort," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 19(4), pages 548-566, December.
    21. Thomas J. Miceli, 1989. "The Optimal Duration of Real Estate Listing Contracts," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 17(3), pages 267-277, September.
    22. David Geltner & Brian D. Kluger & Norman G. Miller, 1991. "Optimal Price and Selling Effort from the Perspectives of the Broker and Seller," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-24, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Han, Lu & Strange, William C., 2015. "The Microstructure of Housing Markets," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 813-886, Elsevier.
    2. Zhaohui Li & Qiang Li & Hua Sun & Li Sun, 2022. "Diffused effort, asset heterogeneity, and real estate brokerage," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 707-742, September.
    3. Bian, Xun & Waller, Bennie D. & Turnbull, Geoffrey K. & Wentland, Scott A., 2015. "How many listings are too many? Agent inventory externalities and the residential housing market," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 130-143.
    4. Daniel Broxterman & Tingyu Zhou, 2023. "Information Frictions in Real Estate Markets: Recent Evidence and Issues," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 203-298, February.
    5. Luis Arturo Lopez, 2021. "Asymmetric information and personal affiliations in brokered housing transactions," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 459-492, June.
    6. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Bennie D. Waller & Scott A. Wentland, 2022. "Mitigating agency costs in the housing market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 829-861, September.
    7. Thomas Miceli & Katherine Pancak & C. Sirmans, 2007. "Is the Compensation Model for Real Estate Brokers Obsolete?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 7-22, July.
    8. John D. Benjamin & G. Donald Jud & G. Stacy Sirmans, 2000. "What Do We Know About Real Estate Brokerage?," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 5-30.
    9. John D. Benjamin & G. Donald Jud & G. Stacy Sirmans, 2000. "Real Estate Brokerage and the Hosting Market: An Annotated Bibliography," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 217-278.
    10. Ying Li & Abdullah Yavas, 2015. "Residential Brokerage in Hot and Cold Markets," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 1-21, July.
    11. Xun Bian & Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Bennie D. Waller, 2017. "Client Externality Effects of Agents Selling Their Own Properties," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 139-164, February.
    12. Edward Rosenthal, 2011. "A Pricing Model for Residential Homes with Poisson Arrivals and a Sales Deadline," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 143-161, February.
    13. Thomas J. Emmerling & Abdullah Yavas & Yildiray Yildirim, 2021. "To accept or not to accept: Optimal strategy for sellers in real estate," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(S1), pages 268-296, March.
    14. Timothy E. Jares & James E. Larsen & Thomas S. Zorn, 2000. "An Optimal Incentive System For Real Estate Agents," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 49-59.
    15. Ronald Rutherford & Thomas Springer & Abdullah Yavas, 2007. "Evidence of Information Asymmetries in the Market for Residential Condominiums," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 23-38, July.
    16. Terrence Clauretie & Nasser Daneshvary, 2008. "Principal–Agent Conflict and Broker Effort Near Listing Contract Expiration: The Case of Residential Properties," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 147-161, August.
    17. Rutherford, R.C. & Springer, T.M. & Yavas, A., 2005. "Conflicts between principals and agents: evidence from residential brokerage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 627-665, June.
    18. Lu Han & William C. Strange, 2014. "Bidding Wars for Houses," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(1), pages 1-32, March.
    19. Kimberly F. Luchtenberg & Michael J. Seiler & Hua Sun, 2019. "Listing Agent Signals: Does a Picture Paint a Thousand Words?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 617-648, November.
    20. Lynn Fisher & Abdullah Yavas, 2010. "A Case for Percentage Commission Contracts: The Impact of a “Race” Among Agents," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-13, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agency theory; Residential brokerage; Commission splits; Dual agency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law
    • L0 - Industrial Organization - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jrefec:v:54:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11146-015-9541-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.