When new rules governing buyer’s agent compensation went into effect, the share of real estate agents Intel surveyed who saw the National Association of Realtors as bad for the industry shot up. One year later, some agents are coming back around.
Early last year, the National Association of Realtors acknowledged it needed to “rebuild trust with members,” and outlined a new path for doing so.[1]
It would be months before the trade group would actually hit rock bottom.
About a month after NAR highlighted this plan, the terms of the NAR settlement became public. And by the time new rules went into effect in August 2024, large shares of agents told Intel[2] that they felt their national trade group was doing more harm than good.
A year later, agents who participate in the Intel Index survey are much less down on NAR’s role in their industry, although they remain divided and unsure.
Still, this messy picture represents substantial progress for NAR as it continues to work to rehabilitate its damaged brand among agents.
- 31 percent of agent respondents to the Intel Index survey in July said they saw NAR as a positive force in the industry, compared to only 24 percent who said it was not.
- The largest group of agents, 40 percent of respondents, said they were unsure whether NAR was a net-positive for real estate.
This week, Intel looks at the numbers behind how the industry’s largest trade group got to this point — and NAR’s efforts to try to dig itself out. Intel also examines the shift in agent plans to ditch real estate for another profession.
Read the findings in the full report.
A slow rehabilitation
There’s little question that this level of uncertainty and discontent represents an ongoing problem for NAR.
The giant trade organization sells itself as one of the most powerful advocates for the U.S. real estate industry. With NAR’s combination of a large membership and ample cash and political muscle, one might expect that it would have a higher popularity among the very agents for whom it advocates. But the years-long losing court battle over how buyer’s agents are paid continues to weigh on the organization.
Chart by Daniel Houston
Still, this represents significant progress for the beleaguered trade group since roughly this time last year.
- In the immediate aftermath of the NAR settlement rule implementation, only 17 percent of agent respondents to the August 2024 Intel survey said they saw NAR as a positive for the industry, compared to 38 percent who did not.
The turnaround from that low point was slow but steady.
In the months since that fateful August, NAR has worked to cement its leadership’s new emphasis on rebuilding trust with brokerages and state and local associations.
These efforts ranged from bringing in new advisers who could speak to core constituencies in the brokerage world, to hammering home the value it brings to members building their own businesses.
But in addition to these efforts, NAR’s standing may have been aided by a dawning recognition among agents that the terms of its settlement didn’t lead to a steep drop in buyer commission rates over the deal’s first 12 months.
And this realization may have also talked some agents off the ledge when it comes to the decision to continue their careers in the field.
- From March of last year through November, the share of agent respondents who said they had thought about leaving the profession hovered around 30 percent most months — maxing out just under 33 percent in September.
- But in the months since then, agents have become less antsy, with only about 1-in-4 survey respondents reporting they had recently contemplated a career change.
It wasn’t always a smooth transition.
In April, when a slew of new proposed tariff rates in U.S. imports were announced and markets — and real estate clients — got jittery, agent respondents stuck to what they knew, signaling less willingness to entertain a career change.
But a couple months later, things normalized once again.
That April scare aside, agents who have stuck it out this far appear to be increasingly persuaded that they have a future in real estate the further they get from the August 2024 deadline.
- Only 5 percent of agent respondents to the July survey said that they had become more persuaded to leave the field over the past 30 days, compared to 13 percent who said they had become more likely to stay.
- That’s a long way from August of last year, when 14 percent of agents said the events of the previous month had made them more likely to leave the industry, compared to 9 percent who said recent events at the time had made them more likely to stay.
It’s clear that despite the progress NAR has made in repairing its image, it still has a long way to go. Agents in recent surveys are still about as likely to report that NAR is a net negative for the industry as a net positive — not an ideal place to be when you bill yourself as a real estate agent’s biggest advocate.
But as the page turns to Year 2 under the new rules, that relationship may have undergone something of a reset as both sides work through their angst.
Methodology notes: The most recent Inman Intel Index survey ran from July 21-Aug. 4, 2025, and received 442 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.
References
- ^ outlined a new path (www.nar.realtor)
- ^ large shares of agents told Intel (www.inman.com)
- ^ Email Daniel Houston (www.inman.com)