15b without talking about the number of transactions is meaningless and prices wouldn’t be lower without agents as the person buying is still paying that price, they don’t care who the money goes to.
In an imaginary scenario, if I go to sell my house, and know that I’ve got a 400k loan to pay off and the house is worth around 400k, I’m going to factor in what I have to pay the agents and set it for 420k (assuming 2.5% for both selling and buying agents to split). I’m not going to be walking away from that still owing money to the bank.
The prices always factor in how much will be going to the agent(s). You will not accept a price that is below what you need.
You will sell for whatever buyers are ready to pay for it, buyers don’t need to know how much you’re losing to the agent, they want to know how much is coming out of their pockets and if they can afford the associated mortgage. People don’t sell their house to be charitable, they sell their house and try to maximize profit, if there’s less going to an agent it just means more going to the seller.
Hell, just look at the prices on direct sales vs with agents, people always overestimate the value of their property when selling by themselves.
You won’t sell at all if it doesn’t meet your minimum cash in pocket amount.
