The Ten: With resistance growing, NAR focuses on value, trust 

Editor's note: In a year of epic mergers — and industry division — a handful of people and themes have emerged as defining forces. Real Estate News has selected the top newsmakers of 2025, based on their industry impact and influence. They are The Ten.

After a challenging 2024, the National Association of Realtors began 2025 ready to reclaim its narrative — and win back support following its controversial $418 million settlement to end antitrust litigation over agent commissions.

That deal failed to cover dozens of the largest brokerages across the country and mandated new practices for agents, causing some members to question the association's value and direction.

Pushback came in the form of lawsuits challenging membership rules, criticism over NAR's role in MLS policymaking, complaints about spending and governance, and competition from a growing alternative trade group.

While NAR worked to unify members in 2025, ending the year with a promise of reforms, will it be enough to regain trust?

A year of (continuing) dissent

Hopes for a fresh start in 2025 dimmed as existing controversies bled into the new year, and new ones rose to the surface.

Agents, brokers reject mandatory membership: Legal challenges to NAR's membership policies began rolling in last year, with many of the lawsuits targeting NAR's three-way agreement requiring membership in multiple associations to access the MLS.

A new year brought new lawsuits, starting with a Jan. 2 complaint filed by four Louisiana brokers and agents. More cases emerged in Georgia, California and the D.C. area, characterizing NAR and local associations as "cartels" that have been "unjustly enriched" at members' expense.

While NAR succeeded in fending off some of the lawsuits, others are ongoing or under appeal. 

MLSs go their own way: Some of the country's largest MLSs also pushed back in 2025, prioritizing subscribers over NAR guidelines.

Austin-based Unlock MLS announced in January that it would no longer require its 20,000 subscribers to be Realtor members, saying they should be able "to choose what's best for their business."

In April, California Regional MLS shrugged off NAR's new "delayed marketing" option for sellers, informing subscribers that it would not implement the policy because it "does not provide any additional seller choices or options, is not clear nor easy to understand or expand, and we don't need to complicate things."

Minnesota's Northstar MLS followed suit, announcing in June that it saw "no need" to adopt the "ineffective" policy.

Brokerage leaders take a stand: One of the loudest NAR detractors in 2025 was Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, whose ongoing criticism of the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) escalated in June with a scathing rebuke of the association and organized real estate. 

NAR and MLSs "are not the government," Reffkin told Compass agents. "Yet their mandatory rules interfere with your client relationships. That's why I'm pushing back," he proclaimed, later informing NAR and MLS leaders that Compass would not enforce the CCP.

Hoby Hanna, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate — the largest independent, family-owned brokerage in the country — has been another vocal critic. NAR's handling of the commissions settlement was a major misstep, Hanna told Real Estate News in July — noting that it hit independent firms especially hard.

What does he want from NAR going forward? To "stay out of the MLS, stay out of setting rules of how we conduct business."

The resistance gets organized: Toward the end of the year, a broker coalition dubbed The Pro-Agent Restore Trust in NAR Working Group entered the spotlight after months of behind-the-scenes discussions with NAR. 

Its members — 15 CEOs of some of the country's largest brokerages — "were not happy with what was going on with NAR and specifically not happy about the lawsuit," Dan Duffy, CEO of United Real Estate and the group's current spokesperson, told Real Estate News in October. 

Their mission? To hold NAR accountable for its policies, spending and governance, and to compel change. "NAR can and must remake itself and recommit to its member agents," the group told association leaders.

Meanwhile, another collective was taking shape. The American Real Estate Association (ARA), which sprung from one agent's response to NAR's 2023 sexual harassment scandal, evolved into a fully functioning trade group with paying members, corporate sponsors and — as of November — its first executive director.

The group isn't trying to take down NAR, Co-founder Jason Haber told Real Estate News, but to "coexist peacefully" while giving agents and brokers another option. ARA's membership increased by 66% when Douglas Elliman and its 6,600 agents signed on in September, and Haber said in December that ARA is continuing its "aggressive growth strategy" with "several firms already signed up that we haven't yet announced."

NAR's efforts to quell controversy, win back hearts and minds

So how has NAR responded to this onslaught of discontent? By working to regain member trust, emphasize its commitment to transparency and reform, and promote the value of Realtor membership.

It has also tackled controversial policies, often taking a middle ground — a tactic that, at times, has seemed to satisfy no one.

A long-awaited decision on Clear Cooperation: The CCP was an intensely divisive issue in 2024, and while NAR may have hoped to end "the epic battle over what kind of housing market we as an industry want," a policy update announced in early 2025 "just intensified it," one leader concluded.

After months of deliberation, the trade organization released its decision on the CCP in March: It was keeping the policy but allowing sellers to temporarily pre-market their home without putting it on the MLS — loosening the requirement that a property must be added to the MLS within one business day of any public marketing. 

Industry reactions rolled in quickly, with some leaders praising NAR for coming up with a fair compromise. But for others, it either didn't go far enough, or it went too far, weakening the CCP and potentially harming small brokerages and consumers.

Narrowing the hate speech rule: NAR also sought to appease critics of its policy prohibiting members from using "harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs" — a standard added to the Code of Ethics in 2020 and deemed too broad by some members. In June 2025, NAR's board of directors voted to revise the standard, limiting it to conduct that occurs while a Realtor is acting in a professional capacity.

Again, the decision left Realtors divided. While one board member said the change was necessary to avoid potential litigation, others characterized it as a discouraging step backward.

Promoting MLS independence — and mitigating risk: A more substantial policy revision was unveiled at NAR's annual conference in November. The executive committee released the most extensive update to the Multiple Listing Services Handbook in 20 years, with many of the changes focused on non-Realtor access to the MLS — an issue at the core of the mandatory membership lawsuits.

NAR said the revisions aimed to "promote the MLS's independent decision-making," emphasizing that "requiring association membership is a matter of local discretion." 

By shifting responsibility to local MLSs, NAR also distanced itself from policies that have spawned litigation and could present future legal risks.

Building bridges, promising reform: While policy debates made headlines, NAR spent much of the year focused on its people. Transparency, communication and unification were common themes as leaders traveled around the country soliciting member feedback. 

Days into the new year, NAR CEO Nykia Wright hired an industry relations leader to build bridges with MLSs and associations, and appointed Sherry Chris as a special advisor to improve relationships with the brokerages left out of the NAR settlement. After 11 months of outreach, Chris told Real Estate News that although brokerage leaders "weren't happy about some of the things that have happened in the past," they "want to be part of a solution for the future." 

Another key ambassador was Kevin Sears, NAR's 2025 president who unexpectedly began his term nearly a year early. At NAR NXT in November, Sears said he spent 258 days on the road in 2025 — all part of his mission to connect with members and rebuild trust. 

But Wright's mission was even broader: unify the Realtor community, demonstrate NAR's value and show a commitment to real change. 

Throughout the year, Wright acknowledged NAR's shortcomings, and in October, announced that the association was incorporating member feedback into its 2026-2028 strategic plan. NAR was also preparing to release its first-ever annual report, she noted — moves that "will provide an unprecedented level of transparency into how the association is currently situated and where it's going."

After NAR's three-year plan was approved, Wright expressed optimism that members would see the association's value, saying she was "very pleased with the amount of progress" it has made so far.

The question now? Whether that progress will continue into 2026 and beyond.