National Association of Realtors CEO Bob Goldberg resigns in wake of sex scandals and commission conspiracy

Goldberg suddenly announced his resignation on Thursday, two days after a federal jury ruled that NAR orchestrated a conspiracy to inflate home commissions and three months after the organization’s sexual harassment and discrimination allegations were exposed.

“After announcing my decision to retire earlier this year, and as I reflected on my 30 years at N.A.R., I determined last month that now is the right time for this extraordinary organization to look to the future,” Goldberg said in a statement. 

Troubles at the powerful U.S. housing market trade group began in late August when the New York Times published a report detailing sexual harassment accusations against the organization’s president, Kenny Parcell. Parcell resigned two days later. Critics also targeted Goldberg, demanding his immediate resignation and some realtors telling the Times that he failed to address sexual misconduct complaints for years. 

The fallout didn’t end there. After the article, real estate brokerage Redfin announced on Oct. 2 that it was cutting ties with the group. Redfin said in a statement that this decision had been a “long time coming,” and, “we’d already been uncomfortable with the NAR’s positions on commissions when we read reports of sexist behavior and sexual harassment,” referring to NAR’s high realtor commission rates, which counters Redfin’s below-market rates. 

And two days ago—in what may have been the final straw for Goldberg—NAR and some of the largest U.S. real estate brokerages were charged with artificially inflating the commissions paid to real estate agents. NAR and the other brokerages must pay $1.8 billion in damages to the 500,000 home sellers in Missouri and in some…