Share
This blog was written by NAR Research's intern, Bronwen Leibe.
Hi again, it’s me, the research intern! Let’s take a closer look at this year’s member profile!
In the 2018 NAR Member Profile, females still make up 63 percent of all REALTORS®. This remains notably constant throughout years of experience (girl power!). Females dominate the profession, except in function breakdown; they make up a smaller percentage of broker-owners, managers with selling, and appraisers.
The median age of REALTORS® for 2018 is 54 years old. Although, there has been a slight increase in younger REALTORS® (30 years old and younger) to 5 percent. The consistent largest age group, those 65 years and older, has increased from 17 percent to 20 percent of all REALTORS®. As a large population embarks on retirement, there will be the need for other generations to enter into the industry.
Interestingly, REALTORS® aged 45 to 54 are a larger portion with 2 or less years of experience than REALTORS® aged 30 years old and younger. Are people coming from other occupations? Well, only five percent of REALTORS® reported real estate was their first career. With 95 percent coming from another occupation, were their previous jobs helpful to a transition in real estate? Thirty-two percent of REALTORS® had a previous career in management, business, finance or sales/retail. To me, those industries’ skills are reasonably applicable to real estate.
Conjointly, education at all levels is a valuable asset for an occupation. Thirty percent of REALTORS® have had some college education, 13 percent have their Associate’s Degree. A third of real estate agents have Bachelor Degrees, while 13 percent have a graduate degree. Nonetheless, investment in your occupation is just as noteworthy as investment in your education. Seventy-two percent of REALTORS® said that real estate was their only occupation--- showing that agents heavily invest their time into the industry. In fact, a considerable majority of 52 percent work 40 or more hours per week. On top of working in real estate, two-thirds of NAR members volunteer in their communities! Already, REALTORS® play a big role in community building and it is admirable that NAR members are contributing outside of their occupation.