NMa launches market study into real estate brokers

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) launches a study into competition among Dutch real estate brokers. With this market study, the NMa seeks to gain insight into how this particular market is functioning at the moment, and what bottlenecks the market encounters. The NMa is inviting interested parties to share with it their information and experiences about this market.

Henk Don, acting Chairman of the Board of the NMa, explains: ‘For most consumers, buying a home is the biggest purchase of their lives. Realtors act as advisors in that process, helping consumers find a new home or sell their current home. It is therefore imperative that this market functions well.’ Various developments have dramatically altered the playing field in the market for real estate brokers in the past ten years: the lifting of the legal protection of the title ‘realtor’, the elimination of fixed real-estate commission rates, and the rise of the Internet. In its study, the NMa wants to analyze what effects these developments have had on competition in the market for real estate brokerage services. The goal is to come up with recommendations, based on the study’s results, to improve competition, if needed. The NMa is expecting to complete the scan in fall 2011.

Realtors, trade organizations, and other interested parties with information are invited to contact the NMa by sending an email. The following document (in Dutch) explains the scope and objective of the market study in more detail.