In the US, the real estate industry controls the MLS "multiple listing service" which essentially makes them the Google of houses, with negligible competition c

In the US, the real estate industry controls the MLS "multiple listing service" which essentially makes them the Google of houses, with negligible competition coming from classified ads, Craigslist, and the like. They charge a standardized 6% commission to the seller, which they split with the buyer's agent, and both agents end up giving some to the brokers that handle the actual transaction. In recent years, they've been losing ground on the commission so often it's less than 6%, and the buyer may end up getting some share of his/her agent's cut as well, but so far it's pretty hard in most markets to work around the cartel.