https://finance.yahoo.com/news/roughly-30-billion-could-slashed-223644313.html

From FORTUNE:

All of these issues with real estate agents’ current compensation model contributes to “elevated home prices, overused agent services, and prolonged home searches,” according to Wang and Grochulski. In order to correct the problem, the economists proposed a new “à la carte” model for buy-side real estate agents that could reduce buyers’ commissions by roughly $30 billion.

The model would also force homebuyers, but not sellers, to pay for each task that their agent undertakes individually, whether it’s searching for a home, helping with negotiations, or showing properties—hence the à la carte name. The economists argue that this would enable consumers to shop around for individual buyer-agent services, and even haggle for a better price. “Under such a system, competition among agents would likely align agent compensation with cost, and buyers would not overuse agent services,” they write.