According to HousingWire, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss Homie Technologies' antitrust lawsuit against NAR and several major real estate brokerages. The appeals court panel determined that Homie failed to make a convincing case that NAR's rules were part of a conspiracy to push competitors out of the Utah real estate market. Because of this conclusion about the underlying conspiracy claim, the court also found that Homie's lawsuit itself was filed too late under antitrust law's time limits.
Homie, which operated by charging sellers a flat fee to list properties on the MLS while typically offering lower buyer agent compensation than traditional brokers, alleged it was harmed when local brokers and agents boycotted its listings. The company challenged several NAR policies through its original lawsuit, including the Clear Cooperation Policy and a participation rule that is no longer in effect. Homie had originally included other defendants like Keller Williams and a local MLS, but those were voluntarily removed from the case before the district court dismissed the remaining defendants.
The district court judge overseeing the case had ruled that Homie simply did not provide enough evidence of a boycott conspiracy and that the lawsuit fell outside the four-year window required for filing antitrust claims. When Homie appealed this decision, the appeals court disagreed with the company's arguments that it had presented adequate proof of violations or that its timing was acceptable.
An NAR spokesperson expressed satisfaction with the appeals court's decision, emphasizing that NAR works to provide fair access to property information and foster competition in real estate markets. Homie did not provide a statement in response to the ruling when contacted by HousingWire.
What I am seeing locally in the Bay Area and East Bay is that these kinds of legal battles, while important for the industry's structure, often take years to resolve and have limited direct impact on how individual transactions actually happen. For my clients in Fremont and throughout the region, what matters most remains straightforward: getting fair representation, clear pricing, and access to good market information when buying or selling their homes.
