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Brokers' contractual arrangements in the Manhattan residential rental market

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  • Bar-Isaac, Heski
  • Gavazza, Alessandro

Abstract

We use new data from a rental brokers' multiple listings service to examine the contractual agreements between landlords and brokers. The data display two sources of variation in the way in which agents are compensated: 1) 69 percent of listings involve exclusive relationships between landlords and agents (the other 31 percent are non-exclusive); and 2) in 23 percent of listings, landlords commit to pay the agent's fee (in the other 77 percent, the agent collects the fee from the tenant). We show that contracts vary according to apartment characteristics and market conditions. Specifically, landlords are more likely to sign exclusive agreements with agents for more-atypical apartments and are more likely to pay brokers' fees when apartments are in rent-stabilized buildings and when local vacancy rates are higher.

Suggested Citation

  • Bar-Isaac, Heski & Gavazza, Alessandro, 2013. "Brokers' contractual arrangements in the Manhattan residential rental market," MPRA Paper 43967, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:43967
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jason Allen & Robert Clark & Jean-François Houde & Shaoteng Li & Anna V. Trubnikova, 2023. "The Role of Intermediaries in Selection Markets: Evidence form Mortgage Lending," NBER Working Papers 31989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Philippe Bracke, 2021. "How Much Do Investors Pay for Houses?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(S1), pages 41-73, March.
    4. Dean, Jason & Steele, Marion, 2022. "Income decline, financial insecurity, landlord screening and renter mobility," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Pasquini, Ricardo A., 2021. "Effects of regulating the brokerage commission in the rental market: Evidence from Buenos Aires," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Alcalde, Pilar & Vial, Bernardita, 2022. "Implicit trade‐offs in replacement rates: Consumer preferences for firms, intermediaries and annuity attributes," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Sharat Ganapati, 2018. "The Modern Wholesaler: Global Sourcing, Domestic Distribution, and Scale Economies," Working Papers 18-49, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Han, Lu & Strange, William C., 2016. "What is the role of the asking price for a house?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 115-130.
    9. Philippe Bracke, 2013. "House Prices and Rents: Micro Evidence from a Matched Dataset in Central London_x0003_," ERSA conference papers ersa13p112, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Niedermayer, Andras & Wang, Chengsi, 2018. "A search model of rental markets: Who should pay the commission?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 214-235.
    11. Lawrence Kryzanowski & Yanting Wu & Tingyu Zhou, 2023. "Conflicts of interest and agent heterogeneity in buyer brokerage," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(1), pages 130-169, January.
    12. Jeremy Gabe & Spenser Robinson & Andrew Sanderford, 2022. "Willingness to Pay for Attributes of Location Efficiency," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 384-418, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Real estate; Brokers; Rent-regulation; Exclusive;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L85 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Real Estate Services
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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