California's average total real estate commission is about 5.47%, below the national average of 5.70%. On the statewide median home of $904,640 that is roughly $49,500. Since the 2024 NAR settlement and California's AB 2992, the listing side and the buyer side are negotiated separately — listing-side fees now typically run 2% to 3%.
For decades a California seller signed one listing agreement, agreed to one percentage, and that percentage was split between two brokerages. That arrangement ended in 2024, and most of what has been written about California commission since predates the change.
Here is where it actually stands in 2026.
California's average total commission is 5.47%, modestly below the national average of 5.70%. On the statewide median single-family home of $904,640, that comes to roughly $49,500.
But the total is now the sum of two separate negotiations rather than one number, and the two behave very differently.
Listing-side fee compared at common California rates against a flat fee, on the statewide median single-family price of $904,640 (C.A.R., June 2026). Buyer-agent compensation shown at 2.5% for comparison — it is separately negotiated and a seller may offer more, less, or nothing. Illustrative only, not a quote.
The listing-side fee is the part you negotiate directly with your own brokerage. Post-settlement it typically runs 2% to 3% in California, and on higher-priced homes listing fees of 1–2% have become noticeably more common — because the work does not scale with the price.
Two things, four months apart, and the second one is California-specific.
The NAR settlement, effective August 2024. Offers of buyer-agent compensation can no longer be published on the MLS. Buyers working with an agent must sign a written agreement covering services and fees before touring a property. Sellers are no longer expected by default to cover the buyer's side.
California AB 2992, effective January 1, 2025. California codified the written buyer-representation requirement in state law. An agent must have a signed agreement in place before showing a buyer a property, and that agreement has to specify compensation.
The practical effect is that what used to be one bundled decision is now two explicit ones. As a seller you negotiate your listing fee with your brokerage, and separately decide whether to offer a buyer-agent concession in the purchase contract.
What did not change: commissions were always negotiable, no law has ever set a rate, and the total money reaching agents has compressed only modestly in the first years after the settlement.
You are not required to, and this is where sellers now have a genuine strategic decision rather than a default.
The argument for offering it: most California buyers work with an agent, and that agent's compensation has to come from somewhere. If your listing offers nothing and the one down the street offers 2.5%, a buyer whose agent's fee would otherwise come out of their own pocket has a concrete reason to look at the other house first. Listings that offer nothing can sit longer.
The argument against: it is your money, it is the second-largest line in the table above, and on a $904,640 home the difference between offering 2.5% and 2% is roughly $4,500.
Most competitive California listings in 2026 still offer 2% to 2.5%. The honest framing is that this is a marketing expense with a measurable effect on your buyer pool — not a fee you owe.
Worth being concrete, because this is the number you control:
That list is the same on a $500,000 home and a $1.5 million one. Percentage pricing charges roughly three times as much for it on the second.
Three real options, in increasing order of how much you take on yourself.
Negotiate the percentage. The simplest move and the one most sellers skip. Rates are set by agreement; asking is free. Leverage is strongest on higher-priced homes and in markets where inventory is moving.
Use a flat-fee platform. A set dollar amount instead of a percentage. Quality varies enormously under this label — MLS-entry-only services at the bottom end provide listing access and nothing else, while full-service platforms include pricing, marketing, negotiation, and a licensed agent through closing. Ask specifically what is included before comparing prices.
Sell FSBO. No listing-side fee at all, and you take on every item in the list above yourself. Covered in detail in the FSBO guide.
Stelo is the second option. A flat fee covers the full listing-side workload — software handles pricing analysis, listing preparation, MLS syndication, buyer inquiries, offer comparison, documents, and closing coordination, and a licensed partner agent handles strategy, negotiation, contract review, and the closing table. Buyer-agent compensation remains your decision, separately.
Commission is the largest cost in a California home sale and the only large one that is genuinely negotiable. Since 2024 it is also two decisions instead of one: what you pay your own brokerage, and what you offer the buyer's.
The first is where the leverage is. On the median California home, moving the listing side from 3% to a flat fee is a difference of more than $22,000 — larger than every other closing cost on the full cost breakdown combined.
Last reviewed: August 7, 2026
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