(Source: Bloomberg, By Robert Schmidt)
The National Association of Realtors agreed to give discount Internet brokers access to its listings of home sales, resolving a U.S. antitrust lawsuit that accused the trade group of trying to restrain competition. The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, calls for the realtors group to revise a policy that let real estate agents exclude their sales information from Web sites. The government said the practice propped up an old-fashioned business model and harmed consumers who can save 1 percent of the price of a home by using a Web-based broker.
