Re/Max International Inc. co-founder and chairman Dave Liniger predicts real-estate commissions will drop to about 4 percent over the next five years as house hunting becomes more efficient.

Many real-estate brands, including Denver-based Re/Max, are enabling homebuyers to access multiple listing services from their websites, which saves time and will push commissions down.

"By educating the consumer, Realtors can charge lower commission rates because they don't have to work as many hours with each consumer," Liniger said. "The agent doesn't have to show as many properties."

Commissions now average 5.1 percent, down from 6 percent 10 years ago, he said.

Liniger also said the residential real-estate climate will shift from a seller's market to a buyer's market as the inventory of resale and new homes rises.

Last year was the best market in the history of residential real estate, with sales of existing homes reaching 7.1 million and sales of new homes at 1.3 million.

"That obviously has been fueled first by low interest rates, second by the economy and third by low unemployment," Liniger said. "What you're seeing in Colorado, especially in Denver, is the market has gradually softened, and your inventory of resale properties is growing a bit, but not dramatically so."

Re/Max has agencies in about half of the top 50 markets signed on to its program to create a national listing service on its website. It expects to have about 75 percent of the top markets and numerous smaller markets enlisted by the time it launches in March.

In addition to aiding the consumer, a national listing service also will put Re/Max in a better competitive position, said Steve Murray, editor of the Littleton trade publication Real Trends.

"It will put him in a better position to control the experience people have when they come to Re/Max.com and will generate more leads and inquiries to his people than letting customers go elsewhere," Murray said, referring to Liniger. "A lot of national networks have concluded that rather than rely on Realtor.com to be their listing source, they're going to build their own."

Re/Max's biggest competitor, Cendant Corp., already has launched its own listing-search tool, SearchRouter. The tool steers homebuyers first to the agent's listings before allowing all listings in a market to be displayed. More than 2,500 Cendant brand offices use the tool, and about half of all U.S. ZIP codes are included.

"Our strategy is not to create some national MLS (Multiple Listing Service)," said Mark Panus, a spokesman for Cendant. "Our strategy is to add greater value from the national-brand websites to consumers searching for a home."