The National Association of REALTORS® and a group of brokerages have agreed to a $120,334,500 settlement with homebuyers — not home sellers — who bought a home listed on a multiple listing service where a commission was paid. Claims are due October 27, 2026, and the deadline to opt out or object is earlier, on September 17, 2026. Your eligibility depends on the class period for your state. The defendants deny the allegations and deny that they violated any law.
Official resources:
- Official settlement website — the claim form, the state-by-state class periods and the settlement documents.
Table of Contents
- Key dates at a glance
- Who qualifies?
- This covers homebuyers, not home sellers
- Class periods by state
- A second homebuyer settlement is also open
- How much can you get?
- What proof do you need?
- How to file a claim
- What happens next?
Key dates at a glance
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Deadline to exclude yourself (opt out) | September 17, 2026 |
| Deadline to object to the settlement | September 17, 2026 |
| Deadline to file a claim | October 27, 2026 |
| Final approval hearing | November 2, 2026, 9:30 a.m. |
| Payments begin | Not yet announced |
The court granted preliminary approval, and a final approval hearing is scheduled before Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins in the Northern District of Illinois. Final approval has not been granted and no payment date has been announced. No court or jury has decided who is right.
Who qualifies?
The settlement class is all people who purchased a home that was listed on a multiple listing service anywhere in the United States, where a commission was paid to any brokerage in connection with the transaction, during the applicable class period.
Two points decide most eligibility questions. First, the purchase must have been of an MLS-listed home — and that includes listing services not affiliated with the National Association of REALTORS®, such as the Real Estate Board of New York and its residential listing service, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, West-Penn Multi-List and MLS Property Information Network. Second, your purchase date has to fall inside the class period for your state, and those dates differ depending on which defendant the claim runs against.
You are not in this class if you opt out, or if you already released these claims against a particular defendant through one of the home seller settlements (Burnett, Gibson, Keel or Hooper) — in which case you are excluded as to that defendant. Counsel for the parties, the mediation special master, and the court and its staff and their immediate families are also excluded.
This covers homebuyers, not home sellers
This is the single most common point of confusion, so it is worth stating plainly: membership is based on buying a home. Having sold one is not a basis for inclusion, even if you both bought and sold.
The National Association of REALTORS® is a defendant here and was also a defendant in the earlier home seller cases, so “the NAR settlement” can refer to either side of that litigation. Sellers were covered by separate, earlier settlements — Burnett v. The National Association of Realtors (W.D. Mo.), Gibson v. The National Association of Realtors® (W.D. Mo.), Keel v. House of Seven Gables Real Estate (W.D. Mo.), and 1925 Hooper LLC v. The National Association of Realtors (N.D. Ga.).
NAR’s $418 million settlement, the figure most people have seen in the news, is the seller side of that group, and its claim window has already closed. This settlement does not overlap with those; it resolves the claims of homebuyers who were left out of them. If you are a class member in one of the seller settlements, you are excluded here as to that defendant.
Class periods by state
Your purchase has to fall within the class period that applies to your state. There are two sets of dates, because the defendants entered the litigation at different points and different state antitrust statutes carry different lookback periods.
Each start date sits a fixed number of years before the day that group of defendants was sued — December 8, 2023 for the brokerage defendants, and January 25, 2021 for the National Association of REALTORS® and the national brokerages. Every class period ends on June 25, 2026.
| If the home was listed in (brokerage defendants) | Class period | Lookback |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming | December 8, 2017 – June 25, 2026 | 6 years |
| Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri | December 8, 2018 – June 25, 2026 | 5 years |
A purchase can qualify under one defendant group and not the other, so check both. The complete state-by-state tables for both groups are published on the official settlement website and are reproduced in full in the OpenClassActions.com breakdown linked in Sources below.
A second homebuyer settlement is also open
This is not the only open settlement for homebuyers who paid a broker commission on an MLS-listed home. Keller Williams ($20,000,000) and RE/MAX ($8,500,000) settled the related Batton v. The National Association of REALTORS case in the same court for a combined $28,500,000, and that claim window closed on August 25, 2026.
The two are separate settlements with separate funds, separate administrators and separate claim forms, so filing in one does not file you in the other. The class definitions are also not identical, and neither is your state’s class period.
How much can you get?
The settlement fund is $120,334,500, paid in installments over several years. Payments are pro rata after attorneys’ fees, costs and administration expenses come out of the fund. No per-person figure has been published, and what you receive depends on the purchase price and the commissions paid on your transaction relative to everyone else who files a valid claim.
What proof do you need?
Documentation is required. The claim form asks for your closing statement, settlement statement, HUD statement or a similar closing document, plus the purchase price and the commissions paid. This is not a no-proof settlement — gather the closing paperwork for the transaction before you start the form.
How to file a claim
File online or by mail through the official settlement website by October 27, 2026; mailed forms must be postmarked by that date. You will need the closing document for your purchase, the purchase price and the commissions paid. If you bought more than one qualifying home during a class period, each qualifying purchase is its own claim.
The opt-out and objection deadline of September 17, 2026 falls more than a month before the claim deadline, so anyone weighing whether to stay in the class has to decide earlier. Filing on an official settlement website is always free.
What happens next?
The final approval hearing is set for November 2, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, consider objections, and rule on the fee and expense requests.
Because the fund is paid in installments over several years, distribution to class members can run on a longer schedule than a single-payment settlement. No payment date has been announced.
Frequently Asked Questions
I sold a home, not bought one. Am I covered?
No. This settlement covers homebuyers. Sellers were covered by separate, earlier settlements in the Burnett, Gibson, Keel and Hooper cases, including NAR’s $418 million seller settlement, whose claim window has closed.
Does the home have to have been listed by a REALTOR®?
It has to have been listed on a multiple listing service, which includes services not affiliated with the National Association of REALTORS® — the Real Estate Board of New York and its residential listing service, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, West-Penn Multi-List and MLS Property Information Network among them.
What if I both bought and sold a home?
Membership here is based on the purchase. If you already released these claims against a particular defendant through one of the home seller settlements, you are excluded as to that defendant, but the buy side is what this class is defined around.
Do I need my closing documents?
Yes. The claim form asks for a closing statement, settlement statement, HUD statement or similar closing document, plus the purchase price and the commissions paid. Gather that paperwork before starting the form.
Why is the opt-out deadline earlier than the claim deadline?
The court set September 17, 2026 for exclusions and objections and October 27, 2026 for claims. Anyone deciding whether to stay in the class and be bound by the release has to decide before the claim window closes.
Sources
- NAR Homebuyer Settlement: $120.3M, Claim by Oct 27 on OpenClassActions.com — the full settlement breakdown, including the complete class-period tables for every state and both defendant groups.
- Official settlement website — claim form, notice, settlement agreement and the state-by-state class periods.
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — preliminary approval order and the settlement agreement.
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