(National Association of REALTORS®, July 31, 2018) Katie Johnson, general counsel of the National Association of REALTORS®, released the following statement today. It refers to comments NAR submitted to Joseph Simons, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, in response to the agency’s review of competition in residential real estate. The FTC, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, is looking into the issue of competition now that a 10-year agreement between NAR and the U.S. Department of Justice on the display of listings on virtual office websites will come to an end in October.

“The National Association of REALTORS® is confident that the real estate industry is highly competitive, and that at the conclusion of a public workshop and comment period, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice will determine the same. With multiple real estate brokerage and business models offering consumers the services and prices that best fit their needs, real estate has never been more competitive, and there is no need for antitrust regulators to continue their decade-old consent decree. Our filing today with the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission reflects those beliefs.”

Read NAR’s comments.