According to an article in ZAi Online, some of Japan's major real estate agencies are collecting double-end commissions on over half of their sales. Collecting brokerage fees from both the buyer and seller may be illegal in some countries, but is a legal and common practice in Japan. Many times the buyer or seller will be unaware as there are no duties to disclose this to the customer.
In some companies, the agency has represented both the buyer and seller for as many as two-thirds of all transactions. Agencies are heavily dependent on this practice as it makes up a significant portion of their annual sales, and it is not likely that heavy regulation will be introduced to curb this behavior.
In early 2016, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) introduced reporting requirements for agencies that use the REINS online listing database. Agencies with exclusive-listing agreements are obligated to update the status of the property on the database if an offer has been received. This is an attempt to boost transparency in the real estate market, but appears to have had a limited effect.
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