Company: HOUS
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001398987-25-000020
Chunk: 160

Company: Anywhere Real Estate Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 160
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, including, but not limited to, competitors with access to outside capital that pursue increases in market share over profitability, models that operate at lower margins, including virtual brokerages and brokerages that operate in a more virtual fashion or reduced cost platforms, and listing aggregator concentration, market power and expansion into new ancillary products and services and leveraging their market power to channel consumers into those products and services, are expected to further erode our share of homesale brokerage commission income.

If independent sales agents affiliated with our company owned brokerages are paid a higher proportion of the commissions earned on a homesale transaction or the level of commission income we receive from a homesale transaction is otherwise reduced, the operating margins of our company owned residential brokerages could continue to be adversely affected.

Our franchisees face similar risks and continued downward pressure on the share of homesale brokerage commission income retained by our franchisees (and not split with the independent sales agents) could negatively impact our franchisees' view of our value proposition. As a result, we may fail to attract new franchisees, expiring franchisees may not renew their agreements with us, or we may be required to offer reduced royalty fee or increased incentive arrangements to new and existing franchisees, all of which have occurred from time to time, and any of which could result in a further reduction in royalty or other fees paid to us.

Insufficient inventory could continue to have a negative impact on homesale transaction sides and other homesale services, including title and mortgage.

Overall housing inventory levels have been a persistent industry-wide concern for years, in particular in certain highly sought-after geographies and at lower price points. Insufficient inventory levels generally have a negative impact on homesale transaction sides and can contribute to a reduction in housing affordability, which could result in some potential home buyers deferring entry into the residential real estate market. Declines in homesale sides have also had a negative impact on other homesale services, including title and mortgage. Additional inventory pressure arises from potential home sellers choosing to stay with their lower mortgage rate rather than sell their home, periods of slow or decelerated new housing construction, real estate models that purchase homes for rental use (rather than resale), and alternative competitors. 

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Potential changes to industry rules and practices could further complicate inventory constraints. For example, changes to the Clear Cooperation Policy could, among other things, reduce the availability of broadly listed properties, leading to more unlisted inventory and potentially limiting access to comprehensive housing market data.

We believe constraints in home inventory levels have contributed to