WASHINGTON – Housing affordability, maintaining sufficient inventory, and keeping up with technology were among the biggest challenges cited for firms in the next two years, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.
The 2023 Profile of Real Estate Firms, which measures characteristics of firms nationwide, reflects results of a survey that was sent to a random sample of more than 176,000 Realtors who were executives and senior managements at real estate firms. The survey had an overall response rate of 3.3 percent.
Among other findings from the survey:
- 40 percent of firms reported they were actively recruiting sales agents in 2023.
- 30 percent of firms expected profitability (net income) from all real estate activities to increase this year (down from 58 percent in the 2021 report).
- 38 percent of firms expected competition to increase in 2023 from virtual firms, and 28 percent expected an increase in competition from nontraditional market participants.
- 64 percent of firms expected competition in 2023 to stay the same from traditional brick-and-mortar single office firms, while 62 percent expected competition to stay the same from larger traditional brick-and-mortar firms.
- 63 percent of firms were concerned with young adults’ ability to buy a home, 38 percent with young adults’ view of homeownership, and 27 percent with baby boomers retiring from real estate.
- 40 percent of all firms said they had an exit plan for when they decide to retire or exit the real estate industry.
- 12 percent of all firms had real estate teams with a median of three people per team.