Agents, it’s time to sharpen your skills or pack your bags — real estate’s getting ruthless. For decades, home sellers paid a 5% to 6% commission, shared between the buyer’s and seller’s agents. However, after a $418M settlement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), buyers must now pay their brokers directly or negotiate a fee as low as 1.5% — potentially shrinking earnings for less skilled professionals, labeled by Business Insider as the industry’s “glut of mediocre Realtors.”

• According to the Federal Bank of St. Louis, the number of full-time real estate agents and brokers decreased to 440K in 2023, down from 512K in 2022.
• Additionally, the NAR — which reported having ~1.5M members in 2024 — has experienced a membership decrease of over 100K since 2022.

Flipping the script: High interest rates and a decline in home sales have also weighed on those in real estate, who are often self-employed and need to sell dozens of homes per year to make a reasonable living. However, less than half of agents polled in a 2023 survey reported selling more than two homes. Baird & Warner’s Laura Ellis sees this as a boon as there would be fewer realtors out there who “don’t know what they’re doing” — potentially leading to less competition and higher income for seasoned professionals.