Number of Realtors in Twin Cities Continues to Decline
February 5, 2010
An article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press caught my eye this week as it discussed the continued decline of the number of Realtors in the Twin Cities are – Exodus of Twin Cities Realtors Slows A Bit The number of real estate agents not renewing their license has slowed but the days of easy real estate sales and a Realtor on every corner seem to be behind us.
“The movement in the real estate agent population is again mirroring the real estate market,” said Leonard MacKinnon, a spokesman for real estate firm Coldwell Banker Burnet. “In 2009, we began to see some stabilization in the market.”
It was somewhat interesting that the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (of which I am a member) had steady membership while the St. Paul Association of Realtors declined 8% and ended up merging late in 2009 with the Southern Twin Cities Association of Realtors to boost membership.
Statewide, membership in the group’s 18 chapters has dropped by nearly 7,000 — or 25 percent — from its 2006 peak of 26,991. “If you were in the business before the bubble and before the easy financing, you learned how to do the prospecting and you built a client base,” Galler said. “Once the bubble burst, those folks that didn’t learn the prospecting side of the business had a very difficult time continuing.”
As you see, we are down 25% from the peak 3+ years ago which might actually be slightly less of a drop than the overall real estate pricing decline. The reason for such a drop is clearly related to the income opportunity. It’s interesting to hear how many people think Realtors are overpaid (based on the cost of selling a home) but according to the National Association of Realtors Member Profile -
- Median gross income of Realtors fell 14% to $36,700 in 2008.
- 72% of Realtors receive no benefits through their firm.
- These were the statistics for 2008 – it’s highly likely the declined further in 2009. Based on those numbers it’s plan to see that there were probably way too many Realtors in the business, especially part-timers. Therefore, the decline can only serve to help those Realtors that remain to be more successful which benefits their clients by having a resource that’s fully dedicated to the profession.
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