I just updated the real estate broker market share by school district page, if you’d like to check it out. These series of graphs show the number of homes sold for sellers and to buyers for the Top 5 brokers in each district.
The last update I did was for Jan-Aug 2008. This new update is for sales from Jan to Nov 2008. Naturally, Real Living is still #1 in all districts. Coldwell Banker King Thompson is #2 in most of the districts. After that, market share drops off substantially for the small brokers and varies by school district.
I did notice some changes versus prior updates. As 2008 became a tougher market to sell in, those brokers that are categorized as “minimum” or “minimal” service tended to lose market share quickly. That type of company performed better a few years ago when it was easier to sell homes. Put a sign in the yard and the home might sell. Not so in this tougher market. You may already have noticed that you’re seeing fewer and fewer of those brokers’ signs. Sellers are deciding they need the extra marketing services of the full-service brokers in order to get their home sold.
Another telling chart (below) shows the number of brokers in the Columbus metro area according to the sales volume ($) that they’ve done Jan-Nov 2008. Of the 647 brokers, 54 have had NO SALES. 440 brokers have sold less than $5 million, which is a volume level that many single agents will do, so that’s very low for a broker. Only 10 brokers did over $100 million in volume and Real Living was the only broker to sell over $1 billion in homes. One has to wonder how much longer the brokers doing less than $20 million can stay in business (given their overhead *), much less those doing less than $5 million.
* Brokers pay their agents 50-90% of the dollar volume, then must pay for licensing fees, E&O insurance, office expenses, and any advertising/internet costs from the remainder.
Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.
