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Brokers still challenged - COMMISSIONS: Though houses are selling, low prices hurt the agents who cut the deals.

A surge in home purchases by first-time U.S. buyers is doing little to help real estate agents and brokers who close the deals.

Commissions in 2009 fell to the lowest level in seven years, driven down by sales of low-priced homes to first-time buyers using the federal tax credit. Commissions through November dropped 6.2 percent from a year earlier to $40.6 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the average commission rates from Real Trends Inc. and on home price and sales data from the National Association of Realtors.

The tax credit strengthened only the low end of the market and reduced agents' pay, according to Steve Murray, president of Real Trends, a residential property research company. The tax benefit and foreclosure sales may lower the national median home price by a record 13 percent this year to $172,700, according to the Realtors' group. Last month almost 75 percent of sales were for $250,000 or less, the Realtors said   Read Full Article...