While the median price of Seattle-area homes has skyrocketed and the number of active listings on the market has decreased, the number of realtors out there trying to sell them has surged in recent years:
The nation’s sizzling housing market has attracted droves of home buyers, but it has also drawn many who are looking to get a piece of the action in another way — by joining the growing ranks of real estate agents.Consider this: as of Nov. 18, Washington state had a total of 40,680 licensed real estate agents and brokers, including 17,185 in King County.
That’s a real estate agent or broker for every 105 King County residents — counting both adults and kids.
Nationally, one in every 266 adults are real estate agents, the National Association of Realtors reports. The Chicago-based organization says it has more than 1.2 million members.
Okay, that’s comparing apples to oranges, which is rather annoying, but still you can get the picture that Washington has way more real estate agents per capita than the rest of the country.
In Washington state, the total number of licensed real estate agents and brokers has increased by 7,839 so far this year, through the first three weeks of November — an average net gain of more than 712 new agents a month, said Chris Anthony, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Licensing.In 2004, the number of licensed real estate agents and brokers in Washington state grew by 8,438 — an average increase of 703 a month.
In 2003, the number of licensed real estate agents and brokers in this state rose by 1,533 — an average increase of only 128 a month.
8,000 new real estate agents per year. Does Washington State’s housing market justify that?
(Clayton Park, King County Journal, 11.27.2005)
Well with our housing market churning along, staying very strong in comparison to the rest of the country’s maybe they are all moving here. To the “promised land” of still high housing prices. :p
What will happen to the unemployment rate when the bubble blows?
From my experience in dealing with Bainbridge Island realtors, it would seem that 90% of them are California ex-pats. Given the number of agents on BI, it would also seem that half of the houses are either owned by RE agents, builders, or mortgage brokers.
Move from the OC to BI and sell RE. When this bubble blows, the amount of people forced to sell on BI will just crush the prices. When I get my blogger account all sorted out, I hope to start the “Clearcut Bainbridge” blog. It will feature the housing bubble as it is localized to BI.
Well, my bro-in-law just got his real estate license, he it totally stoked so I felt bad trying to tell him the true #’s. Someone else I know is also connected to the real estate market through selling mortgages, which is funny because his “day job” is managing a car parts store (real experts here).
Both are giddy and won’t listen to reason, so I say…good…they will find out soon enough that following the herd is NEVER a good strategy.