When Mehrdad Khayeri bought his dream house in the Greater Toronto Area earlier this year, he scored a big bonus: nearly $35,000 back. It was a perk he negotiated through a cashback agreement with his real estate agent.

“My wife and I did the bulk of the heavy lifting,” Khayeri said, describing how they found most of the listings that interested them. “With so many online tools nowadays, like House Sigma and MLS … the [agents] are actually doing maybe less work.”

His agent still earned 2.5 per cent commission on the sale price for helping him buy the home but gave about three-quarters of the fee to Khayeri. It’s a practice that could become more common as homebuyers push back on commissions that have soared alongside housing prices over the past few years.