This report was initially printed on Oct. 28, 2024, completely for subscribers of Intel, the information and analysis arm of Inman. Subscribe to Inman Intel for a deeper evaluation of the enterprise of actual property.
It’s essentially the most contentious U.S. presidential election cycle in current reminiscence — and the brokerage world shouldn’t be immune from its impression.
As Intel examined final month, actual property brokers have been tiptoeing round uncomfortable political subjects with a few of their purchasers.
However a brand new survey of three,000 U.S. shoppers in early October reveals the ways in which supporters of the 2 main presidential candidates — Donald Trump and Kamala Harris — typically method the homebuying course of by way of distinctive lenses.
The most recent Inman-Dig Insights client survey means that in Harris supporters, brokers are discovering purchasers who’re extra keen to belief brokers and to take a conventional method to itemizing their properties on the market. In the meantime, purchasers who’re inclined to help Trump are typically a bit extra reluctant to take an agent’s recommendation, at the same time as they largely nonetheless find yourself on the identical web page.
Intel drills deep this week with breakdowns of lively homebuyers and sellers, seemingly near-future consumers, and U.S. shoppers broadly.
The evaluation sheds mild on client attitudes on the NAR settlement, fee negotiation practices, and what’s bringing consumers to the market in the present day within the first place.
See how Trump supporters and Harris supporters are approaching the market in a different way in the present day — and the various areas they’ve in widespread — within the full report.
Incomes belief on the margins
In Intel’s month-to-month surveys of actual property professionals, brokerage leaders routinely say they suppose purchasers have a low opinion of actual property brokers proper now.
However when Intel surveys working-age U.S. adults throughout the nation, they report the precise reverse.
Clear majorities of each Harris supporters and Trump supporters report having a constructive opinion of actual property brokers, with fewer than 1 in 10 members of both group reporting they’ve a damaging impression of brokers total.
That mentioned, supporters of the Republican presidential ticket have been a bit extra more likely to have an ambivalent and even damaging perspective towards brokers than their Democratic counterparts.
And so they’re much less more likely to say their esteem of brokers has improved over the previous 12 months.
42 p.c of Harris supporters say their opinion of actual property brokers has improved over the previous yr, with solely 7 p.c saying their opinion has worsened.
By comparability, 36 p.c of Trump supporters say they suppose extra extremely of brokers in the present day than they did a yr in the past, with 9 p.c saying their opinion has worsened.
This reality touches on a broader theme that emerged throughout a variety of questions on this survey: some Trump supporters are likelier to begin out with decrease belief for brokers and the system during which they function, and should take extra efforts to persuade because of this.
However brokers who put in that further effort are more likely to break by way of with their purchasers, the survey outcomes recommend.
The artwork of the deal
When requested concerning the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors’ proposed settlement, most People say they nonetheless haven’t heard of it.
However Harris supporters in early October have been extra more likely to say they have been no less than loosely acquainted with the NAR deal — and extra more likely to imagine the deal is sweet for shoppers.
32 p.c of Harris supporters instructed the survey that they have been conscious of a current settlement involving NAR. By comparability, 26 p.c of Trump supporters surveyed have been conscious of the settlement.
64 p.c of Harris supporters who mentioned they’d heard of the deal had the impression it was good for shoppers. Practically 59 p.c of Trump supporters who have been acquainted with the deal agreed with that concept.
Nonetheless, 11 p.c of Trump supporters with data of the NAR deal mentioned it was good for neither shoppers nor the true property business. That’s in comparison with solely 5 p.c of Harris supporters who shared the identical skepticism towards the deal.
These outcomes replicate the opinions of the broader inhabitants, lots of whom are usually not trying to transfer any time quickly, or might solely be beginning to take into account a transfer a number of months down the road.
However the shoppers who have been lively available on the market — and dealing with brokers — in early October have been way more engaged with the questions at hand.
An altered battlefield
Intel wished to understand how lively consumers and sellers are navigating the modifications, and — as a matter of curiosity — how their approaches is likely to be completely different in keeping with their voting intention within the coming election.
Intel discovered proof that when they really hit the market, Harris-supporting purchasers are a bit extra deferential to the previous establishment — on each the customer aspect and the vendor aspect.
And that begins with the fee charges that Harris supporters are agreeing to pay.
Trump supporters available on the market in early October have been extra more likely to report reaching a sub-2 p.c compensation fee with their purchaser’s agent — however no extra more likely to say they achieved that by way of precise fee negotiation.
25 p.c of Trump supporters mentioned they signed an settlement with their purchaser’s agent that pledged to pay near 1.5 p.c of the transaction or much less.
Solely 17 p.c of Harris supporters mentioned their purchaser’s agent settlement had a compensation fee that low.
This was not essentially as a result of Trump supporters driving a harder negotiation, nonetheless.
19 p.c of Trump supporters mentioned they efficiently negotiated their purchaser’s agent charge down from a better quantity — nearly precisely as many Harris supporters who mentioned the identical.
However that will change as extra purchasers grow to be acquainted with the brand new panorama.
Extra Republicans mentioned they weren’t conscious that their purchaser’s agent charge was negotiable earlier than signing the settlement — 35 p.c of Trump supporters vs. solely 29 p.c amongst Harris supporters.
So if it’s not a negotiation query, then why are extra Trump supporters paying decrease fee charges?
It’s troublesome to say for positive. There could also be different components the survey didn’t ask about — corresponding to market-specific or brokerage-specific issues, and even sampling points within the survey itself — that assist clarify the hole on the customer aspect.
The survey revealed variations between the 2 teams on the vendor aspect as properly.
Harris supporters who’re itemizing a house have been considerably extra more likely to take a strictly conventional method to their itemizing — agreeing up entrance to cowl the agent charge for any purchaser who purchases their residence.
50 p.c of Harris supporters mentioned they have been taking this conventional method to their itemizing, in comparison with 41 p.c of Trump supporters who mentioned the identical.
As an alternative, Trump supporters have been a bit extra more likely to say they have been withholding the customer’s agent charge up entrance as a negotiating tactic, however that they’d be keen to cowl it ultimately.
They have been additionally a bit extra more likely to take a agency stance towards masking the charge.
And — as seen in response to different settlement-related questions — extra Trump supporters mentioned that they have been unaware of the brand new choices.
The first drivers
Lastly, Intel explored why individuals who have plans to maneuver within the coming months are contemplating taking this step.
Once more, the 2 teams shared a lot in widespread when it got here to their high causes for shifting. However some distinct variations did emerge within the responses.
Trump supporters usually tend to say they’re shifting as a result of…
…they’re anticipating, or planning to have, a baby — Seemingly consumers who help Trump have been extra more likely to say they have been trying to purchase a house associated to having a baby. Greater than 16 p.c of Trump supporters named this as their cause for doubtlessly shopping for, in comparison with fewer than 12 p.c of Harris supporters who mentioned the identical.
Harris supporters usually tend to say they’re shifting as a result of…
…they’re drawn to the monetary advantages of homeownership — 28 p.c of Harris supporters gave this cause, in comparison with 22 p.c of Trump supporters who mentioned the identical.
…they’re in search of a greater college district — 14 p.c of Harris supporters mentioned they have been motivated by higher colleges, in comparison with 11 p.c of pro-Trump shoppers.
…they wish to transfer nearer to household — 30 p.c of Harris supporters chosen this feature, narrowly edging out the 27 p.c of Trump supporters who mentioned the identical.
Taken collectively, it’s clear that Trump supporters and Harris supporters have a lot in widespread, no less than in terms of how they method the housing market.
However by bringing purchasers on top of things and incomes belief the place some are skeptical, brokers could possibly bridge gaps the place they exist in a polarized — and continually evolving — actual property atmosphere.
In regards to the Inman-Dig Insights client survey
The Inman-Dig Insights client survey was performed from Oct. 4-6, 2024, to gauge the opinions and behaviors of People associated to homebuying.
The survey sampled a various group of three,000 American adults, ranging in age from 24 to 65 and employed both full-time or part-time. The contributors have been chosen to provide a broadly consultant breakdown by age, gender and area.
Statistical rigor was maintained all through the examine, and the outcomes must be largely consultant of attitudes held by U.S. adults on this age group with full- or part-time jobs. Each Inman and Dig Insights are majority-owned by Toronto-based Beringer Capital.
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