Commercial office space is seen empty in a building owned by GEM Real Estate Partners that is up for sale in the South Lake Union neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, U.S. May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Karen Ducey. That odd imbalance is the result of decades of distortions that have benefited the real-estate industry at the expense of its customers. A recent ruling promises to change the way homebuying works, creating some winners, and many losers both in the industry and around it.
That seems like an obvious thing buyers would want. So what took so long? For starters, realtors spend an enormous amount of money lobbying lawmakers, who also have little incentive to push for change given more pressing political topics like climate change and substance abuse. NAR spent $52 million last year alone, according to Opensecrets, almost twice as much as the lobbying group that represents beer, wine, and liquor makers, and six times that of American Petroleum Institute.