Real estate brokerages come in all shapes and sizes, as evidenced by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2021 Profile of Real Estate Firms. In the report, NAR surveyed its Brokers of Record membership (executives and senior management) to “understand the demographics, composition and characteristics of real estate firms from the perspective of executives and managers.”
Here are a few of the report’s findings:
- The typical Broker of Record is a manager or owner of a single-office firm and identified as a broker owner.
- The typical firm is an independent non-franchised firm with three full-time real estate licensees.
- The typical residential firm has been operating for 16 years.
- Regarding location, 51% of firms operated in a metropolitan area, while 27% worked in rural areas or small towns.
- The breakdown of sales volume is as follows: 30% from past client referrals, 30% repeat business from past clients, 10% from their website and 10% through social media.
- Due to growth in their primary businesses, 38% of firms were actively recruiting real estate agents in 2021.
- The biggest challenges that firms expect to see over the next two years are: maintaining sufficient inventory (55%), housing affordability (53%) and competition from nontraditional market participants (50%).
To read the full 2021 Profile of Real Estate Firms report, visit NAR.realtor/research-and-statistics.
Photo: iStock.com/kate_sept2004
