Redfin to lower listing fee for home sellers to 1% in SoFla

Redfin will now offer home sellers in South Florida a 1 percent listing fee, adding to other metro areas such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles where it already offers the low rate.

The Seattle-based real estate discount brokerage announced it will offer its 1 percent listing fee to home sellers in Philadelphia, Delaware and Wisconsin, along with South Florida. With the new markets, the listing fee only applies to customers who both buy and sell with Redfin within a 360 day period, according to a press release. The fee does not include a buyer’s agent commission, which is typically paid by the seller.

For Redfin customers who sell with a Redfin agent, but do not buy, Redfin will charge a 1.5 percent listing fee.

The company offers the sellers’ fee, which is lower than the average 2.5 percent to 3 percent fee, at a time when the brokerage industry is becoming increasingly competitive. Many smaller brokerages are struggling to compete with national players such as Douglas Elliman and Compass and margins are shrinking.

Redfin’s losses widened to $42 million in 2018, as the discount brokerage invested heavily in direct advertising to fuel its growth.

The company’s losses also follow a broader slowdown in the housing market. Home flipping in the U.S. is down to its lowest levels in more than three years, according to a recent report by Attom Data Solutions. In November, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that new home sales dropped to a two-and-a-half-year low In October.