Since the National Association of Realtors announced the policy change, more MLSs have provided updated information regarding membership requirements. Here’s what we found after researching hundreds of real estate agents in recent months.
Shortly after the National Association of Realtors lifted its policy requiring membership to access the MLS, an Intel survey suggested real estate agents were still swimming in uncertainty.
However, by late December, almost half of the agents surveyed by Intel said they had received clear answers from their multi-listing services about their future plans after the changes.
And while the majority of this group says major MLSs have doubled their Realtor membership requirements for access to local listing platforms, the survey suggests a significant portion of the country is moving forward without that long-standing restriction.
It remains unclear what impact NAR’s policy change will have in an environment where many agencies say this rule is the only reason they can’t abandon NAR membership.
Still, some early takeaways from this week’s report shed light on where the industry stands today.
A new era in MLS
As of late December, many agents were still waiting for a response from their local MLS regarding this policy.
However, according to Intel’s research, that number has decreased significantly compared to the previous month.
The percentage of agent respondents who said their MLS has not yet contacted them about its plans regarding this policy decreased from 36 percent in late November to 21 percent in December.
To be clear, this was not the only source of agent uncertainty described in the MLS policy. The proportion of responses below remained relatively stable.
Just under 8% of agents told Intel in December that MLS said the policy was “under consideration.” An additional 29% of December agent respondents said they simply don’t know where their MLS stands when addressing this question.
But overall, since the NAR decision, the current state of the industry has come into sharper focus with an increase in the number of agents reporting that they are aware of clear policies from their MLS.
The percentage of agent respondents who said they had “recently confirmed” that the MLS would continue to require real estate agent membership jumped from 15 percent in late November to 25 percent in December.
Representatives say the number of MLSs that have announced policy changes is also on the rise.
The percentage of agents who said their MLS announced that real estate agent membership will no longer be required increased from 6% in November to 10% in December.
But that’s not all. Including MLSs that already allowed access to non-real estate agents before NAR’s policy change in November, nearly 18 percent of agent respondents in the December survey said they don’t need membership in an MLS, but many of them either don’t know or their MLS hasn’t decided yet.
Even if few of the remaining undecided MLSs change their policies, a significant portion of the Inman community will now have access to the MLS without having to maintain membership.
Additionally, as previously investigated by Intel, many agents now say they would like to leave NAR if they no longer have to maintain membership to access local listings.
It’s too early to tell whether these sentiments portend an actual departure from the industry’s largest trade association.
But the door appears to be open, at least for many agents.
Methodology note: This month’s Inman Intel Index study was conducted from December 19, 2025 to January 2025. As of May 5, 2026, we received 468 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating selection of randomly selected community members were encouraged to participate via email. Users answered a series of questions about their self-proclaimed niche in the real estate industry, including real estate agents, brokers, financiers, and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the views of our passionate Inman community, but do not necessarily align with the views of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.
Email Daniel Huston
