Thursday, May 24, 2007

Today's REALTORS®: Demographic Characteristics of NAR Members

Today's REALTORS®: Demographic Characteristics of NAR Members

by Paul Bishop, Anna Barlett and Jessica Lautz
NAR Research

The services provided by real estate professionals – from brokerage and property management to appraisal and relocation -- are essential to most real estate transactions. More than 1.3 million of these real estate professionals – about half of all real estate licensees – are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. REALTORS® bring their knowledge, experience and expertise to each transaction, while abiding by a strict Code of Ethics.

To better understand today’s REALTORS® and their important role in the real estate industry, NAR regularly surveys its members about their business activities, use of technology, demographic characteristics and their relationship to their firms. Last month in this column we examined some of the business characteristics of REALTORS®, including type of licenses held and the types of technology frequency used. In this issue of Real Estate INSIGHTS, we look at some of the basic demographic traits of REALTORS.

Demographic Profile of REALTORS®
Today’s REALTORS® run the gamut in terms of age, prior profession, and years of experience in the real estate business. But results from the 2007 NAR Member Profile indicate that:

The typical REALTOR® is a 51-year-old white female.
She has attended college, is married, owns her home, and lives there only with her spouse.
The typical REALTOR® has a household income of over $100,000.
The typical REALTOR® votes in both national and local elections. Indeed, the percentage of REALTORS® who vote is well beyond that of the electorate at large. Ninety-five percent of REALTORS are registered to vote. Ninety percent report that they voted in the last national election. Eighty-one percent voted in the last local election.

Although these are the typical characteristics, real estate practitioners are a diverse group with 2.7 million licensees and more than 1.3 million REALTORS®, many of them are not defined by the profile above.

Age and Gender
Fifty-nine percent of all REALTORS® are female. That is an increase since 2005, when 54 percent of REALTORS® were women. Females account for a larger share of REALTORS® in each age group, except for those over 60 where the gender share shifts to a slight majority for males. The majority of sales agent licensees and REALTORS who function as sales agents are female. REALTORS® who function as brokers and appraisers are predominantly male. Managers who are also involved in selling are about as likely to be male as female.

THE WHOLE REPORT AT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTOR® :

http://www.realtor.org/reinsights.nsf/pages/marketintelligence?opendocument

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