The Antitrust Division is working to build on our understanding of real estate markets, and why they may not be behaving as efficiently as they could, to aid our enforcement and competition advocacy efforts. Last October, we and the Federal Trade Commission held a joint workshop on competition issues in real estate brokerage. We invited state officials, economists, and other experts and market participants, including representatives of traditional brokers and brokers with Internet-based and other innovative business models.
The participants publicly debated the relevant issues, covering topics such as the structure of real estate transactions, use of multiple listing services, emergence of new and innovative business models, government and private restraints on real estate competition, minimum-service laws, legal prohibitions on offering rebates and other inducements to consumers, and empirical evidence on competition in the real estate industry. The Division and FTC continue to study the information presented during the workshop, and plan to issue a report later this year.
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