This week the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) put out an interesting press release discussing how market conditions are rapidly leading to a large decline in the number of Realtors in the Twin Cities. I had previously written about this here and most recently, in a blog entry yesterday.
You can see from their chart that membership at MAAR (blue line) has dropped from a high of near 11,000 to its current total of below 8,000. There are also 2 other local Associations (North Metro Association and St. Paul Association) which make up the combined number for the metro area. MAAR noted the direct correlation between sales prices and membership –
Although we always knew that membership was a trailing indicator of market activity, this chart illustrates that there is a far greater correlation than we first suspected. The seasonality effect in home prices is also mirrored in the membership numbers with surges in the warmer months and decreases in the colder months. Buyer activity—as measured by the closed sales trendline—seems to have peaked about two years before prices did. The first tax credit could have slowed the decline in member numbers as prices received a boost in Summer of 2009, although that could be purely coincidental.
There has actually been an uptick in the number of members since the low in early 2009. Reasons for that include an uptick in sales activity due to the tax credits, the ease of entry for unemployed workers into the field and the merger of the South Metro Association with St. Paul’s Association which may have led some Realtors to join with Minneapolis instead.
