Real estate is a constantly changing business both for the profession and consumer markets. When perusing a real estate career and once you’re an established agent, one of the most important parts of the job is staying informed on current trends. Knowing your industry trends, market trends, demographics, and average costs gives you a competitive edge on the competition.
Here are some facts about the real estate industry future and current agents need to know.
- More than 63% of real estate agents are women.
- Only 43% of real estate agents have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- The median age for real estate agents in the United States is 54.
- The typical real estate agent receives upward of 30% of their business from repeat clients or referrals.
- 48% of brokers report that “keeping up with technology” is the biggest challenge their agents face.
- By 2020, it is estimated that more than one out of every five commercial drone shoots will be for real estate purposes.
- Some 73% of homeowners say they are more likely to list with a real estate agent who uses video to sell property.
- When asked about the most important trait they look for in a real estate agent, prospective home sellers chose “professional reputation” most often.
- June is, on average, the month when homes sell the fastest in the U.S.
- Home ownership rates in the U.S. have steadily risen since September 2016, coming in at 64.5% in April 2019.
- The Midwest and Southwest regions of the U.S. are expected to have the most reliable growth in terms of sale prices in 2019, around 3% on average.
- Some 59% of homebuyers under the age of 29 don’t expect to be in their home for more than 10 years; 28% of them plan on being in their new home less than five years.
- As of 2018, millennials made up 37% of residential buyers.
- One-third of homebuyers in 2018 were first-time homebuyers.
- Facebook is a great place to market yourself and/or your business. Americans spend an average of 58 minutes per day on Facebook.
- Female Facebook users click on an average of 10 ads per month.
- Around 18% of homebuyers in 2018 were single females.
- On average, buyers search on their own for a new home for three weeks before contacting a real estate agent.
- Around 92% of homes in the U.S. are sold using a real estate agent or a broker.
- About 75% of sellers sell their home with the first agent they interview.
- Only 2% of home sales in 2018 could be directly attributed to newspaper advertising.
- Baby boomers make up an estimated 43% of the home seller market.
- Some 41% of listed homes have a price reduction before they get an accepted offer.
- The Boston metro area continues to lead the nation as the hottest real estate market with an average list price of over $567,000.
- The national median days-on-market for residential real estate in 2018 was 21.