Latest News Releases 31 March

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) settlement is likely good news for consumers, says new research from The University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

The settlement would prevent including information about commissions on multiple-listing services (MLSs), a move that serves the consumer in several ways, the research shows:

Reduces Collusion Among Agents: The research finds that when one broker tries to lower commission rates, other brokers often refuse to do business with them. This widespread practice hurts both buyers and sellers.

Opens Negotiation for Buyers: Now buyers can — and should — get involved in negotiating their agents’ commissions, to “give them a better deal and also eliminate steering by their buyer agent,” says coauthor John Hatfield, professor of finance.

Lowers Overall Costs: Sellers’ agents can still communicate about commission rates and split them with buyers’ agents, outside of the MLS. “Our analysis suggests that having buyers and their agents negotiate fees directly, instead of having the fees paid to the buyer agent by the seller, can indeed lower overall costs for real estate transactions,” says coauthor Richard Lowery, associate professor of finance.

But both coauthors say the details of implementation are key here.

A new study published this week in Nature Nanotechnology demonstrates significantly enhanced stability of Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in engineered quantum systems. This research, conducted by a team from the University of Oxford, Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, and Quantum Machines represents a major step towards fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Pregnancy may offer some protection from developing Long COVID, found a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, University of Utah Health and Louisiana Public Health Institute. Previous research has mostly focused on non-pregnant adults affected by Long COVID— a condition lasting for months after a person recovers from SARS-CoV-2 infection.