It’s time to share my Three Cents Worth on Curbed, at the intersection of neighborhood and real estate.

Three Cents Worth:
Examining Manhattan’s Real Estate Agent Oversupply

>It has been a few years since I looked at the relationship between the number of licensed real estate agents/brokers and the number of residential sales (co-op, condo, 1-3 family houses) that occur in each market. This week I looked at broker/agent tallies in four markets in the NYC metro area and compared them against the corresponding number of residential sales in 2009. Of course this does not consider that licensed agents may only sell commercial property, but the idea was to establish some sort of relationship between licensees and transactions.

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One Comment

  1. Chris A. Randolph March 16, 2010 at 4:25 pm

    The numerical values I couldn’t have guessed at but the percentages are actually about what I might have guessed. What the chart tells me is that agents, especially in Manhattan have not left the field in proportion to the lower sales figures.

    Of course there are many rental only agents, part timers etc which at least partly accounts for the disproportionate amount of agents in Manhattan.

    If we go by the grass is greener theory Nassau/Suffolk is looking good. But those Manhattan numbers even discounting rental agents and such are so high. Is it the higher property prices? Or a “hope springs eternal, If you can make it here you can make it anywhere” attitude that keeps the ranks swollen even now?

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