New Faces in Commercial Real Estate

Recently commercial membership has seen demographic changes. New members joining commercial real estate contrast some characteristics of typical commercial membership. While commercial real estate is male dominated, we see this trend shifting when looking at those members with 2 years or less of experience in commercial real estate. Based on data from the 2015 Commercial Member Profile, we can see who is joining commercial real estate and how they differ from the typical commercial member.

Commercial REALTORS® with two years or less of experience:

• The majority of commercial members with two years or less of experience in commercial real estate are licensed as sales agents at 36 percent and brokers at 24 percent, compared to all commercial members who are typically licensed as brokers (59 percent) and sales agents (24 percent).
• Commercial members with two years or less of experience have been in any field of real estate for three years, while all commercial members have been in real estate for 25 years.
• The gender breakdown among commercial members is 75 percent male, but this changes when looking at commercial members with two years or less of experience. Females make up 51 percent of the newest members in commercial real estate. This is the only experience category which shows a larger percentage of women than men.
• The newest members in commercial real estate are typically married (65 percent) and 54 years old, six years younger than the median age of all commercial members at 60 years old.
• The median number of transactions by commercial members is 11, compared with two years or less of experience the median was three transactions in 2014. This number doubles to six transactions with three to five years of experience.
• Among commercial members with two years or less of experience in commercial real estate, 58 percent worked between 40 and 59 hours per week, the same as all commercial members.
• The newest members in commercial real estate are well educated. 40 percent have completed their bachelor’s degree, 31 percent have completed some college or hold an associate’s degree, and 19 percent have a graduate degree. Thirty-seven percent of all commercial members have completed their bachelor’s degree.
• The most common compensation structures for members with two years or less of experience was percentage commission split (41 percent), 100% commission (22 percent), and straight salary (15 percent). The percentage receiving a straight salary is higher among newer commercial real estate agents, compared to the typical commercial member who only reports receiving a straight salary four percent of the time.
• Less experienced commercial real estate agents receive a median of only 40 percent of their annual income from commercial activities. Whereas the typical member receives 76 percent of their salary from commercial activities.

For more information on commercial REALTORS®, members can view the full 2015 Commercial Member Profile, or download the report through the REALTOR® store.