Do Arlington Condo Sellers Have to Pay the Buyer’s Agent’s Commission?
No — and they never were. Before August 17, 2024, the listing broker typically charged one combined fee covering both the listing agent and the buyer’s agent, and that co-op amount was advertised right on the MLS. What changed, following the National Association of Realtors’ settlement, is the mechanics: the listing broker can no longer advertise buyer’s-agent compensation on the MLS, and when a seller chooses to pay it, that amount now comes directly from the seller and gets negotiated straight into the purchase contract instead. Most Arlington sellers are still offering it. Nationally, the average buyer’s agent commission actually rose from 2.36% to 2.42% between the third quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2025, according to Redfin, as buyers gained negotiating leverage in a slower market. With Arlington’s condo inventory well above last year’s levels, sellers who skip this compensation entirely tend to see fewer showings, not more net proceeds.
I get some version of this question from almost every seller I sit down with now: “Do I still have to pay the buyer’s agent?” The honest answer is no — you never did. What changed in August 2024 is how that payment gets offered and negotiated, not whether it was required. Here’s what actually changed, what sellers are doing about it, and how to think about it for your own listing.
What Actually Changed for Virginia Sellers
Before August 2024, the listing broker typically charged one combined fee that covered both the listing agent and the buyer’s agent, and that co-op split was advertised right on the MLS — most sellers paid it without much of a conversation. It was never a legal requirement, but it was the default. The NAR settlement changed the mechanics of how that offer gets made and paid, not whether sellers had a choice.
According to Virginia REALTORS’ official settlement guidance, the practice changes took effect no later than August 17, 2024, and here’s what’s actually different:
- Buyer agent compensation can no longer be advertised on the MLS. Any offer of compensation has to be communicated directly between agents — phone, text, or email — not through the MLS or association-affiliated platforms.
- Sellers can still choose to pay a buyer’s agent, but instead of it flowing through the listing broker’s combined fee, it now comes directly from the seller and is negotiated straight into the purchase contract. Virginia REALTORS is explicit that this is not a violation of the Code of Ethics. It’s just no longer automatic.
- Buyer’s agents can’t accept more than what’s written in their buyer brokerage agreement, regardless of the source. That’s a new guardrail that didn’t exist before.
One thing that isn’t new for Virginia: a written buyer brokerage agreement. Virginia has required one since the mid-1990s, decades before the rest of the country caught up. So the “buyers need a signed agreement before touring” piece that made national headlines in 2024 was already standard practice here.
The upshot: you’re not obligated to pay a dime toward the buyer’s side. But you can, and the decision now happens deliberately, in your listing strategy, instead of by default.
Why Most Arlington Sellers Are Still Offering It
Here’s where it gets practical. If sellers weren’t required to keep offering buyer agent compensation, you’d expect the rate to have dropped sharply once the rule changed. It didn’t.
Redfin tracks the average buyer’s agent commission on closed sales nationally, and the trend has moved the opposite direction from what a lot of people predicted. The average sat at 2.36% in the third quarter of 2024, right when the new rules took effect, and by the third quarter of 2025 it had climbed to 2.42% — roughly back to where it was before the settlement. Commissions held flat across price tiers through that period too, according to Redfin’s reporting.
Why would commissions go up, not down, once sellers had the option to pay less? Because inventory grew and buyers got more negotiating power. A Redfin agent quoted in that same report put it plainly: when demand is high and homes sell fast, sellers can push back on commission. When the market slows and buyers have more listings to choose from, buyers — and their agents — have the leverage instead.
That’s close to what’s happening in Arlington’s condo segment right now. Active condo and co-op listings in Arlington County were up 25.4% year over year as of July 2026, according to Bright MLS data reported in NVAR’s July 2026 market report. More supply means buyers have more units to choose from, and a listing that isn’t offering buyer agent compensation is one more reason for an agent to steer a client toward a competing unit that is.
I’m not saying you’re locked into paying it. I’m saying the sellers who skip it entirely, in a market with this much competing inventory, are making their unit slightly harder to show — and in a segment where pricing and concessions already matter this much, that’s not a small thing.
How to Decide What to Offer on Your Listing
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all decision, and it’s one I walk through building by building with sellers. A few things actually move the math:
- Look at what’s competing with your unit right now. If every other listing in your building or price range is offering 2.5%–3% and yours offers nothing, buyer’s agents notice, and so do buyers comparing options on their own.
- Treat it as part of your total cost of selling, not a separate decision. Commission, Virginia’s transfer taxes, and your resale certificate fee all come out of the same proceeds. Run the full number before you decide what’s negotiable.
- Know it’s not the same lever as a price cut or a closing-cost concession. A price cut changes what buyers see when they filter search results. A concession solves a specific buyer’s affordability problem at the table. Buyer agent compensation is closer to a market-access decision — it affects whether agents are actively showing your unit to their clients in the first place.
- Reconsider it if your unit sits without traffic. If you listed with no buyer agent compensation and showings are thin, that’s worth revisiting before you touch your price.
- Put a number in writing early. Whatever you decide, get it documented in your listing agreement so there’s no ambiguity for buyer’s agents deciding whether to show your unit.
None of this means you’re at the market’s mercy. It means the decision is now genuinely yours to make — and making it with the actual data, instead of a rule of thumb from three years ago, is how you protect your net proceeds instead of guessing at them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Virginia sellers have to pay the buyer’s agent’s commission?
No — and they never were. Before August 17, 2024, it was typically baked into the listing broker’s combined commission and advertised on the MLS. Since the NAR settlement rule changes took effect, that offer can no longer be advertised on the MLS, and when sellers choose to pay it, it’s negotiated directly into the purchase contract instead. Most sellers still choose to offer it.
How much are Arlington condo sellers typically offering buyer’s agents in 2026?
There’s no fixed rate, since it’s negotiated case by case. Nationally, Redfin’s data shows the average buyer’s agent commission was 2.42% in the third quarter of 2025, up slightly from 2.36% a year earlier. What makes sense for your listing depends on what comparable Arlington condos are currently offering.
What happens if I don’t offer any buyer agent compensation?
Your unit is still legal to list and sell. But buyer’s agents may be less inclined to show it if their client would otherwise need to negotiate compensation directly into the offer, and with Arlington condo inventory well above last year’s levels, buyers have more comparable listings to choose from.
Is buyer agent compensation the same as a seller concession?
No. Buyer agent compensation is a payment toward the buyer’s agent’s fee. A seller concession is a credit toward the buyer’s own closing costs, rate buydown, or repairs, subject to separate lender caps. They solve different problems and are negotiated separately.
Does the buyer’s agent commission come out of my sale price or get added on top?
It comes out of your proceeds at closing, the same way it always has. It doesn’t get added to the buyer’s purchase price, it’s simply a line item you’re agreeing to pay from what you net on the sale.
If you want a clear-eyed read on what buyer agent compensation should look like for your specific building and price point — not a generic percentage, but a number backed by what’s actually moving units near you — that’s exactly the kind of conversation I have with sellers before we ever set a list price. Start your selling plan at ArlingtonCondo.com/sell.