Real estate firms cut commissions

Some top downtown real estate firms are adding insult to brokers’ financial injuries.

Moving to save costs — and, some industry insiders suspect, drive out underperformers — prestigious firms are taking sweeping steps, even reducing commission rates on the few deals brokers are able to close.

At Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., the commission scale has been changed so brokers have to do more business to make the same amount of money.

Commissions are paid on a sliding scale and generally step up based on how much business brokers bring into a firm.