What are the possible 2026 events that we should see coming?
Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
What are the possible 2026 events that we should see coming?
Okay, let’s take a deep dive into big events for 2026 Boston condo for sale market:
- The DOJ filed a statement of interest on a brokerage lawsuit last Friday. The last mega-lawsuit didn’t change much of the home-selling business, but the DOJ could start poking around other hot topics like dual agency and private listings.
- The Clear Cooperation Policy could get modified or abandoned by NAR – who has already been tinkering with it.
- The Compass/Anywhere merger could provide some governmental concerns, but it should still close. Once Compass has the resulting 25% national market share, we could leave the NAR and MLS. I think it will happen someday, and if not in 2026, then maybe in 2027. We will still cooperate with outside agents (pay them a commission to sell our listings) but they will have to find those homes on our website only, not on Zillow.
- The Compass vs Zillow lawsuit could get settled and have some exclusion for private listings (1-2 weeks instead of 24 hours). Why? Because Zillow can’t afford to lose 1/4 of the market, which is what Compass will have when the merger closes with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, CENTURY 21, Coldwell Banker, Coldwell Banker Commercial, Corcoran, ERA, and Sotheby’s International Realty.
- In an election year, anything is possible. Candidates and/or parties will be making affordability a big issue, and with it could come some landmark ideas to improve affordability. If not lower rates, how about some expansion of the mortgage underwriting guidelines? I don’t need ez-qual loans or 50-year loans, I’d settle for a national effort to expand 7-year and 10-year ARMs where the rate is fixed for the first 7 or 10 years, then adjusts annually. If those loans were available at 5.5% today, there would be a lot of takers.
- A new requirement for referral fees between agents to be disclosed to their clients. It won’t have any impact on the regular day-to-day business, but it could have dramatic objections from Zillow customers when they discover why they have to pay so much for those Z realtors (because Zillow takes a 40% cut).
- It would be nice if the difference between the 10-year and the mortgage rates comes back to the historical 1.75% spread. It has been getting better – here’s this week’s spread:
- There will be a mass exodus of agents leaving the business. Many have ‘retired’ already, and many more haven’t realized it yet but 2026 will be very tough on the causal/part-time agents.
Peace be with you
Updated: Boston Real Estate Blog 2025
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