North Carolina Realtors Rise Within Triad, Even as Home Sales Slow

The number of Realtors in the Triad grew in 2006, despite a drop in local home sales. With the local housing market expected to remain flat this year, industry experts say a decline in the number of Realtors locally is likely by the end of the year as incomes take a hit.

In 2006, more than 200 new Realtors began working in the Triad, with the total number rising 7 percent over 2005, according to data provided by the profession’s associations in Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem.

Meanwhile, existing home sales were relatively flat in 2006, with 16,363 homes sold in the Triad, a 1 percent decrease from the year before, according to data from the N.C. Association of Realtors.

The number of Realtors in the Triad has been growing for the past several years, seeing an overall increase of 38 percent since the beginning of 2002. During that same period, home sales rose 73 percent. North Carolina mortgage demand was high. Everyone was happy.

However, the increase in agents is expected to change this year.

Walter Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, said historically there has been a decline in Realtor numbers about 18 months after home sales start to decline. After peaking at nearly 1.4 million members this year, Molony said the national association expects to see a decline in membership by the end of the year.

Industry veterans say they also expect to see a decline locally as well.

“Even though the number (of Realtors) has been going up, we won’t reach a saturation point because with the [North Carolina housing market] softening, we will see some attrition,” said Jodi Tate, general manager for Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors.

Tom Harvey, the executive director of the Center for Real Estate Development at UNC-Chapel Hill, said the best sign that a decrease in Realtors is coming would be a drop in income. While Realtor income didn’t fall in 2006, it did remain flat, according to the Employment Security Commission.

The Triad’s average real estate agent made $42,000 in 2006 only $1,000 more than a year earlier, but up significantly from $32,000 in 2002.

However, new agents averaged just $24,000 in 2006, the same as in 2005 and only $4,000 more than in 2002. With income remaining flat, many Realtors, especially those new to the business, are expected to decide the effort isn’t worth the money and leave the home mortgage company industry.

“In the real estate business, you have to sell a home to make a check,” said Mark Yost, principal with Yost & Little Realty Inc. “If you can’t make a living at it, you tend to leave the business.”