New York City’s broker fee bill went into effect on Wednesday, prohibiting property owners from passing broker fees onto renters. REBNY attempted to block the bill’s enforcement but failed.
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New York City’s controversial broker fee bill has gone into effect. This means rental property owners — not renters — must pay broker fees when they enlist a broker to help them lease a unit.
The New York City Council passed the bill, formally known as the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act, in November with a vote of 42 to 8. The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) sued the City in December to stop FARE’s enforcement and filed an injunction on Tuesday, saying the bill shouldn’t be enforced until the lawsuit ends. However, Southern District of New York judge Ronnie Abrams denied REBNY’s request.
James Whelan | Credit: REBNY
“New Yorkers will soon realize the negative impacts of the FARE Act when listings become scarce, and rents rise,” REBNY President Jim Whelan told The Real Deal.
NYC Councilmember Chi A. Ossé pitched the FARE Act for two years and finally got traction in 2024 amid record rental growth. Ossé and his 33 co-sponsors said broker fees exacerbate high rental costs, with New Yorkers typically paying five figures to rent a unit, which includes the first month’s rent, a security deposit and a broker fee of one month’s rent or 10 to 15 percent of the annual rent.
“A party that purchases or contracts a good or service should be responsible for the cost,” Ossé, who represents Brooklyn, said last year. “This is the case in every other transaction across our vast economy, and should be true for New York City Rentals as well. The FARE Act has the potential to alleviate prohibitive upfront costs for workers and growing families searching for a new home.”
“If you want a broker, great, hire them. And if you don’t want one, my bill says you don’t have to pay,” he added.
Ossé said the bill will improve affordability for New Yorkers, an outcome that Zillow-owned StreetEasy supported through a report that found upfront rental costs had grown 19.28 percent from 2023 to 2024. For renters who leased a unit with broker fees, StreetEasy said they “likely spent 42.9 percent more” in upfront costs than renters who leased a unit without broker fees.
“This is a big win for renters,” StreetEasy Senior Economist Kenny Lee said.
However, early market trends hint that FARE’s supporters might be wrong.
The Wall Street Journal tracked rental listings in the days leading up to the bill’s enforcement, and found that property owners had hiked prices by hundreds of dollars. One unit that TheWSJ tracked included a notice that the price would go from $3,300 per month to $3,975 per month if it wasn’t rented before the FARE Act’s enforcement.
REBNY warned that FARE would cause higher monthly rents, as property owners look for a way to offset the cost of brokers’ fees.
“What it really is going to do is complicate the transactions even further to where effectively that cost is going to have to be accrued through higher rent,” former REBNY VP of Government Affairs Ryan Monell told Inman in June 2024. “So while you may save some money on the front end of a transaction, the reality is the cost of the broker fee isn’t actually going to be evaporated into thin air.”
“For those who decide to renew the lease year over year, it’s going to be a problem,” he added. “When you’re looking at a higher base rent for the first year you’re in an apartment, it’s going to be effectively amortized over time because when you go to renew, generally in New York City, they raise your rent, say 5 percent.”
Even as rents experience a post-enforcement pop, New York City renters still seem to see FARE as a win — for now.
The WSJ spoke to 27-year-old NYC renter Rita Liu, who spent half of her savings to get into an apartment during a previous move.
“Landlords are going to jack up the rents no matter what,” she said. “If broker’s fees aren’t a factor now, moving would be a lot more feasible.”
Despite several hiccups in their suit, including Judge Abrams’ criticism of REBNY’s claims that the Act violates First Amendment rights and limits consumer choice, the Association said it won’t give up easily.
“We will continue to litigate this case as well as explore our avenues for appeal,” REBNY President Jim Whelan said.
Boutique firm Acre & Estate has joined Coldwell Banker Hearthside. The merger extends Coldwell Banker Hearthside’s reach from 11 to 14 offices throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
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Coldwell Banker Hearthside is extending its lead as one of Coldwell Banker’s largest affiliates, thanks to its acquisition of Lehigh Valley boutique firm Acre & Estate Brokerage.
Coldwell Banker Hearthside has 11 offices throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the acquisition of Acre & Estate marks its entrance into Lehigh Valley with three offices in Bethlehem, Brodheadsville and Wind Gap, Pennsylvania. Acre & Estate founder Eric Leadbetter will continue to lead his team as the president of Coldwell Banker Hearthside’s Lehigh Valley Division.
“This wasn’t just a market move. It was a culture fit,” Coldwell Banker Hearthside co-owner Jamie Mancuso said in a written statement. “Eric’s agents, his energy, his ideas — they will complement and elevate what we do companywide.”
Mancuso and Leadbetter said the acquisition enables the team to leverage the best parts of each other’s companies — Coldwell Banker brings enhanced technology and support, while the former Acre & Estate team brings invaluable knowledge about Lehigh Valley and the elevated customer service and modern branding that comes with boutique real estate.
“What drew me to Hearthside was their independence, their innovation, and their clear sense of identity,” Leadbetter said in a prepared statement. “This isn’t a corporation absorbing a boutique firm. It’s two philosophies aligning. We’re not just adding volume — we’re scaling values.”
Added Mancuso, “We’re not waiting on the market. We’re moving forward. We’re betting on good people, doing things the right way, and building something great — together.”
Alongside the acquisition of Acre & Estate, Coldwell Banker Hearthside is appointing another regional leader.
Longtime Hearthside team member Stefanie Hahn will serve as president of the Delaware Valley region. This model, the brokerage said, supports growth while prioritizing the company’s tight-knit culture. Hearthside owners Jamie and Robin Mancuso will continue to lead the company’s daily operations, while Hahn and Leadbetter oversee regional expansion.
“We don’t have layers and layers of management,” Mancuso said. “Our agents call me directly. They know we’re all in this together.”
Zillow Rentals has partnered with third-party artificial intelligence company, EliseAI, to power its chatbot for renters and property owners. EliseAI will answer questions, schedule tours and send automatic follow-ups to renters.
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Zillow Rentals is making an upgrade to its platform with EliseAI, an artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot that will answer renters’ questions and schedule tours. Conversations with EliseAI will be saved to the Zillow Renter Hub so users can review previous conversations with Elise throughout their rental search.
EliseAI, which is a third-party platform that provides artificial intelligence solutions for housing and healthcare companies, will be integrated into Zillow Rentals by the end of the third quarter, according to an announcement Tuesday.
Michael Sherman
“We want to make it even easier for renters on Zillow to get the information they need right when they need it, something no other rental marketplace is doing today,” Zillow Rentals SVP Michael Sherman said. “It’ll be a smarter, faster experience for renters and a more efficient way for property marketers to connect with serious leads.”
For renters, Zillow Rentals said EliseAI will be able to answer key questions about a rental property, including pricing, unit availability, amenities, the application process, and fees, etc. The bot can also schedule tours and send real-time details and reminders to renters.
On the property manager side, EliseAI will answer prospective renters’ questions around the clock and send automatic follow-ups once a renter asks a question or schedules a tour, all of which are managed through the EliseAI portal.
“We’re excited to be working toward a partnership with Zillow that would bring EliseAI’s industry-leading conversational AI to the very place where today’s renters begin their search: the listing itself,” EliseAI Co-Founder and CEO Minna Song said in a prepared statement. “Together we will empower property owners and operators to work more efficiently while giving renters the seamless, on-demand experience they expect.”
Zillow remains bullish on multifamily, with the company saying Zillow Rentals is outpacing its competitors in traffic and listing growth.
During Q1, Zillow’s rentals revenue grew 33 percent year over year to $129 million — an all-time high for that segment.
“We now have the most listings, 2 million active rental listings on Zillow’s rental network,” Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman told Inman in May. “And that’s what drives the audience. We actually have the largest rental audience in the country, 37 million unique visitors come to Zillow Rentals. It’s the number one brand preference because it has the most inventory. No one has them all, but we’re trying to get to as many as possible.”
At Fortune’s Workplace Innovation Summit, Zillow Chief People Officer Dan Spaulding praised the portal’s Cloud HQ and how it’s boosted employee productivity and morale.
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Zillow Chief People Officer Dan Spaulding dished about the benefits of remote work at Fortune’sWorkplace Innovation Summit at the end of May, saying it’s all about empowering employees to work in an environment that’s best for them — whether it’s at home, in the office or both.
Dan Spaulding | Credit: LinkedIn
“We call it Cloud HQ because we wanted to take the politics of proximity out of the equation and start from a place where remote work isn’t a perk, it’s a business strategy,” he said. “And so for us at Zillow, it’s an intentional strategy that everything we do starts in the cloud. It’s gonna be documented. It’s gonna be written down, it’s gonna be clear for our employees to follow, so whether they’re working at home or in the office together, that they know the rules of the road and, for us, it’s been really transformative on our culture.”
Even with the focus on remote work, Spaulding said Zillow still understands the power of in-person interactions. That’s why the portal invests in regular “Z-retreats” that enable employees in the same market to gather and collaborate on projects.
“Making that transparent to the company really gives our employees the ability to understand what’s happening outside of the virtual world that they work in on a daily basis,” he told Fortune.
On LinkedIn, Spaulding explained the benefits of Zillow’s Cloud HQ, saying the portal has been able to hire employees in all 50 states, increase productivity and innovation, and stoke a 4x increase in applicants per role. Spaulding said remote work has boosted morale, with 94 percent of employees saying they’re proud to work at Zillow.
“We hire adults and treat people like adults,” he said on LinkedIn. “That means giving people the freedom to choose where and how they work best — and trusting them to show up when it matters. That trust? It’s paying off.”
In February, Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman dove into the portal’s remote model, saying that it’s saved the company millions of dollars in overhead costs.
Since switching to the Cloud HQ model in 2020, Zillow has reduced its office footprint by 73 percent, from 1,046,413 square feet to 274,771 square feet. The company shuttered its Denver and Overland Park, Kansas, offices and dramatically downsized its offices in Seattle; New York; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco; and Irvine, California, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Zillow’s office reduction measures lowered the company’s leasing costs from $54 million in 2022 to $34 million in 2024. The company expects its leasing costs to drop to $18 million over the next four years, and anticipates earning $26 million in sublease income during the same period.
The portal’s moves, including Cloud HQ, have improved its bottom line.
In the first quarter of this year, Zillow turned a profit for the first time since 2022, earning $598 million in revenue and making an $8 million profit, a reversal from last year’s $23 million loss.
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Anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments are rising, and according to the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance‘s latest annual report, the real estate industry is at the epicenter.
The report, which is based on Alliance member surveys, revealed that real estate agents in the for-sale market (22.2 percent), outdated legal forms that require homebuyers or renters to use an outdated name or gender marker (17.8 percent) and real estate agents in the rental market (15.7 percent) are the top three sources of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. Homesellers (14.4 percent) and landlords (13.5 percent) are also contributing to discrimination issues, with members reporting issues with sellers and landlords refusing to sell or rent their property to an LGBTQ+ person.
Justin Ziegler
LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance President Justin Ziegler said the Trump Administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies — especially those attacking transgender and gender expansive (TGX) people — has created a dangerous and antagonistic environment.
“LGBTQ+ people are facing the greatest hostility since the AIDS epidemic because of the current administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-TGX executive orders, along with its efforts to end DEI,” Ziegler said in a statement. “We are troubled to learn that our members believe that real estate professionals were the leading cause of record-high housing discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.”
“Our industry has a lot more work to do to root out discrimination and ensure that the LGBTQ+ community has equal access to fair housing and equal access to homeownership,” he added.
A third of survey respondents said housing discrimination has gotten worse over the past three years, with 58 percent of LGBTQ respondents and 42 percent of heterosexual respondents saying President Trump’s anti-transgender policies will cause more trans and gender expansive (i.e., people who eschew traditional gender identities and expressions) individuals and families with TGX children to relocate.
This uprooting, respondents said, will likely lead to poorer homeownership and financial outcomes for LGBTQ+ children.
Parents of heterosexual children were 10.4 percent more likely to believe that their child would have equal access to homeownership than parents with LGBTQ+ children. These parents were also 23.1 percent more confident about their child’s potential equal access to financial stability than parents with LGBTQ+ children.
More than 71 percent of parents with heterosexual children believe their child will have fair housing access in the future, compared to just 49.0 percent of parents with LGBTQ+ children.
“We recognize that more education is needed as those in the LGBTQ+ community had a different view than heterosexuals about numerous homeownership-related issues,” Ziegler said of the report’s findings.
In a phone call with Inman, Ziegler said the Trump Administration’s policies are forcing LGBTQ+ homeowners, especially those who are transgender or gender expansive, to consider moving to a new state or a new country to find safety. However, that safety comes at a high cost, with homeowners losing the benefit of their record-low mortgage rates and equity.
“I can’t tell you exactly how much TGX homeowners have lost, but I can tell you this: I bought a home five years ago. I sit on a 2.75 percent interest rate and my home has appreciated by about 60 to 70 percent since I purchased it. If I were to sell it, I would be sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash,” he said. “Let’s say I have $350,000, and if I were to take all of that cash and put it down on purchasing my same home right now, in today’s value, I would still have an increased mortgage payment, due to higher mortgage rates and appreciation trends.”
“I would not be able to afford the home that I’m living in,” he added. “And that’s the situation LGBTQ+ are facing.”
Ziegler said real estate agents are in a special position to help LGBTQ+ homebuyers, homesellers, and renters navigate a difficult housing and political landscape, but bias often gets in the way.
“The reality is the best thing that people can do in our industry is just treat everybody with dignity and respect,” he said. “Being inclusive just is going to create a stronger industry. Treating people the way you would want to be treated is going to create a stronger industry. I mean, how great would the world be if everyone were just accepted for who they are?”
“And I think that that’s, that’s probably the baseline of how to become an ally,” he added. “And even from the business standpoint of it, with homeownership being lower within the LGBTQ+ community, there are more opportunities to get business with folks in a community where the home ownership rate is lower. Why wouldn’t you want that opportunity? And all you have to do is accept people for who they are.”
Ziegler said Pride Month is the perfect opportunity for agents to connect with the LGBTQ+ community by attending local Pride events, learning about LGBTQ+ history, and finding ways they can advocate for equality in their brokerages and communities by supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and bills that protect LGBTQ+ rights.
The Alliance president also said this is the time for LGBTQ+ agents to be more visible and show others, especially those who haven’t disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity, that they’re not alone.
“If you’re in a community where you feel safe to do so, now is the time to be out. Now is the time to be visible,” he said. “When I was 16 years old, I put a rainbow on the back of my car. I wasn’t trying to make any kind of political statement. I just wanted the people around me to know that they knew someone who was gay.”
“It’s very easy to marginalize someone when you feel they’re not part of your community. It’s very easy to lump someone into a ‘those people’ category,” he added. “But when you know someone, you have a relationship with them, whether they’re your neighbor, coworker or friend, it makes it a lot harder to hate on a community.”
