Around a month ago, News.com.au reported that “hundreds if not thousands of Queensland real estate agents are leaving the industry” amid softening house prices and sales.
This followed thousands of agents joining the industry as the market ramped up in late 2021.
Former Buderim real estate agent Myles Blackwell left the industry in late March and said that agents were facing more of a battle to list and sell houses:
“When the times get tough and the houses aren’t selling, and people are holding back, and the affordability becomes unreachable for more people because the interest rates are a lot higher, then it is a real slog.
“Generally speaking you have more properties that can fall over or don’t complete and it takes longer to get the buyers across the line”.
In his weekend market wrap, leading Sydney auctioneer and agent, Tom Panos, claimed “the exodus of real estate agents has begun”:
“They came in when the market was going up. They got themselves a nice tailored suit. Got themselves dressed up. Might have even taken a car lease and upgraded their car”.
“They sort of got by in 2020 and 2021, and they may have even got by in 2022. But they’re not getting by in 2023”.
“The big Exodus is there. They were easy come easy go these real estate agents”.
“They came from a JB Hi-Fi. They came from Politics Menswear. They came from David Jones. They came from Uber. They came from the hospitality industry. They came from being Baristas”.
“They saw all the bright lights, shiny cars. They saw all the Swank”.
“But guess what team? All Swank, no bank at the end of the day. That’s what actually happened”.
CoreLogic’s June housing market report, released on Monday, showed how real estate agents have gone from booming conditions to bust.
While home prices have rebounded over recent months, “the number of capital city homes advertised for sale over the four weeks ending June 25th was almost 20% lower than at the same time last year and 26.4% below the average for this time of the year”, CoreLogic notes.
“Regional listings also trended lower through the month, tracking 32.9% below the previous five-year average”:
Source: CoreLogic
Actual sales volumes have also fallen heavily from the pandemic boom back to normal five-year average levels:
Source: CoreLogic
For a profession that is based around sales commissions, real estate agents are clearly experiencing their own version of the Hunger Games.
It also means that state governments will earn less from stamp duty receipts.
Won’t somebody think of the poor real estate agents?
