The real estate market is generally slowing in Australia right now but there’s record high numbers of new real estate agents.
The three states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland all have had the best property results leading the nation’s housing boom, and have recorded the most real estate agent registrations in the year to June than in previous years.
Consumer Affairs Victoria says the number of real estate agents over that time jumped from 13,455 to 14,755.
This jump comes despite the supply of housing for sale on the Melbourne property market sliding in recent times.
It has meant house prices have continued to perform well but it is largely due to keen homebuyers trying to take advantage of record low interest rates over a dwindling supply of available property rather than a booming market with plenty of work for all real estate agents.
Tim McKibbin from the Real Estate Institute of News South Wales said when there’s less houses on the market there’s always less work for agents.
“There is no doubt that as stock comes off, the work comes off with it,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“The employers aren’t looking to take new people on.”
John McGrath from McGrath Estate Agents said the increasing number of registered agents would see the cycle come around again in the future.
“The current shortage of listings will impact agents numbers in the short term and people making that career shift,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“However, I see this as a short-term contraction of agents numbers until healthy listing numbers return to the market.”
The swelling number of agents hitting the industry will at least soon be able to get their hands on the large numbers of apartments that are in construction in each of the three cities that will soon hit the market.
As the property market continues to slow in Melbourne it seems unlikely there will be any further growth in real estate agent registration numbers in the near-term.
