Real Estate Statistics

Real Estate is one of the hottest topics of conversation among people these days. You can find groups huddled together discussing prices of houses or property now and then.

Have you ever wondered what the big fuss about this sector that everyone seems to be talking about it is? Well, if you haven’t, you must because there will come a time when you’ll have to deal with the commotion of choosing and buying a property for yourself.

Thus, it would help to keep an eye on the latest real estate statistics in your country and worldwide. Here we have rounded up some stats to help you with this task, have a look and be amazed!

On this page, you’ll find:

• Real Estate Sector Stats
• Real Estate Agent Stats
• Real Estate Buyer Stats
• Real Estate Seller Stats
• Real Estate Investment Stats

Key Real Estate Statistics

Here are the top stats for a quick look from the article below:

• There are approximately 119.7 million occupied housing units in the United States. (American Community Survey)

• The typical home size is 1,500 square feet. (American Community Survey)

• 78.9% of people aged 65 or above own a home in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• There are about 2 million active real estate licensees in the United States (ARELLO).

• 86% of buyers go for previously owned homes instead of new ones. (NAR)

• The typical FSBO(For Sale By Owner) home sold for $217,900 compared to $295,000 for agent-assisted home sales. (NAR)

• 51% of the buyers bought homes in suburban areas. (NAR)

• Home sellers who sold after March sold their home for $300,000 while those who sold before April sold it for $270,000. (NAR Highlights)

• New home sales were 43.2% up in the year 2020. (GPG)

• House prices increased 2.17% during the latest quarter of 2020 (2.29% inflation-adjusted) (S&P/Case-Shiller)

Real Estate Sector Stats

The real estate sector is very active in terms of price changes and capital flow. The importance of this sector in a country’s economy is enormous. This can be verified by the fact that governments make various policies and laws to ensure that the country’s real estate business runs smoothly. There is no better way to understand the importance of this sector than to look at the top stats that we have dug up for you, so here they are:

• 5.34 million existing homes were sold in 2019, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

• 682,000 newly constructed homes were sold in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau).

• There are 106,548 real estate brokerage firms operating in the United States. (Summary statistics for the U.S)

• There are approximately 119.7 million occupied housing units in the United States. (American Community Survey)

• The typical home size is 1,500 square feet. (American Community Survey)

• The Midwest region of the U.S has the highest homeownership rate at 69%. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• 78.9% of people aged 65 or above own a home in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• Mobile traffic accounts for 30% of the total traffic for real estate sites. (Contactually)

• 64% of all real estate agents in the U.S are females. (NAR)

• 93% of people visit websites when searching for homes. (NAR)

Real Estate Agent Stats

Real Estate Agents or “Realtors”, as they are called in the U.S, are the heart and soul of this industry as they are the ones who play the most crucial role in setting up the deals between buyers and sellers in a majority of real estate transactions. How can we ignore them while we are digging up stats on this sector? So here are the top figures about realtors for you:

• There are about 2 million active real estate licensees in the United States. (ARELLO).

• Agents putting in 40 hours a week can expect to make around $46,000 to $80,000. (Real Estate Express)

• An average real estate agent working at a national franchise can expect to pull in an average of $82,535 annually, whereas a self-employed agent earns an average of $106,280 per year. (Real Estate Express)

• There are 1,451,031 members of the National Association of Realtors as of October 2020. (National Association of Realtors)

• 91% of buyers use their agents again or recommend them to others. (NAR)

• 26% used the agent they previously worked with to buy or sell a home. (NAR)

• 60% of buyers used Google to reach their future agent. (Contactually)

• Sellers who definitely would use the same agent again: 74% (NAR)

• 41% of sellers who used a real estate agent found their agents through a referral by friends or family. (NAR)

• The average real estate agent closes 12 deals a year. (Real Estate Express)

Real Estate Buyer Stats

A large number of people buy properties of various types for varied purposes every year in the U.S and around the world. What does a buyer look for? What things should sellers include in their terms to attract more interested buyers to their property? All these questions can be answered if one looks at the stats of buyers who have bought a property in recent times and that exactly we have rounded up for you below:

• 88% of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker- a share that has steadily increased from 69% in 2001. (NAR)

• 24% of homebuyers in the U.S still have student loan debt. (NAR)

• 86% of buyers go for previously owned homes instead of new ones. (NAR)

• Only 7% of buyers purchase a home directly from the owner. (NAR)

• Homebuyers spend an average of 10 weeks searching for a new home. (NAR)

• For 20% of the home buyers doing paperwork is the most troublesome task. (NAR)

• 51% of the buyers bought homes in suburban areas. (NAR)

• 20% bought houses in small-town dwellings. (NAR)

• 14% of the buyers bought houses in urban areas while 12% bought houses in rural areas. (NAR)

• 31% of people who bought a house were first-time buyers. (NAR)

Real Estate Seller Stats

Buying or Selling a property is a big step in terms of capital distribution in a person’s financial holdings; thus, having an idea of what others are doing always helps to get maximum return on investment and avoid common mistakes. Here we have the top real estate seller statistics, which would help you form an idea about what general trends people follow while selling a property.

• 89% of sellers were assisted by a real estate agent when selling their homes.(NAR)

• The average down payment given for a new home was $59,880. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• The median asking rent reached an all-time high of $1,002. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• The typical home sold was on the market for 3 weeks. (NAR)

• The typical FSBO(For Sale By Owner) home sold for $217,900 compared to $295,000 for agent-assisted home sales. (NAR)

• Only 2% of rented houses were sold to the same tenants. (NAR)

• 52% of houses were sold on the internet and 29% through a real estate agent. (NAR)

• The typical home seller in 2017 was 56 years of age, had a median household income of $107,100. (NAR)

• 74% of sellers used social media to find their agent. (Contactually)

• Home sellers who sold after March sold their home for $300,000 while those who sold before April sold it for $270,000. (NAR Highlights)

Real Estate Investment Stats

The real estate sector is one of the most capital ingesting forms of business involving transactions of vast sums of money. Thus proper analyses and investigation before investing are of utmost importance. Slight indifference towards prices or places can potentially result in substantial amounts of losses. But at the same time, it is an ever-growing sector with huge profits rewarded in the long term, which is why many people see it as a viable form of investment. Have a look at the stats below to see how the sector has been performing lately in the U.S :

• New home sales were 43.2% up in the year 2020. (GPG)

• U.S. homebuilder sentiment is now at its highest for 35 years. (GPG)

• House prices increased 2.17% during the latest quarter (2.29% inflation-adjusted) (S&P/Case-Shiller)

• House prices continue to rise in all of the country’s 20 major cities with Phoenixposting the highest increase of 8.96% during the year to Q2 2020. (S&P/Case-Shiller)

• The median sales price of new homes sold fell by 4.34% y-o-y in August 2020, to US$312,800. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• For existing homes, the median price was up by 11.4% to US$310,600 in August 2020 from a year earlier. (National Association of Realtors)

• Construction activity remained weak in 2020. Housing starts were up 2.8% while completions declined 2.4% in 2020.

• About 69% of homes sold in August were on the market for less than a month. (NAR)

• The sentiments of U.S homebuilders increased to 83% in September 2020, which is a significant increase from the previous year’s 68% – the highest reading in the 35-year history of the survey. (NAHB)

• The total number of existing homes available for sale fell by 18.6% y-o-y to 1.49 million units in August 2020. (NAR)

Conclusion

Now that we have gone over these stats and figures of the real estate sector, we hope that you got the hang of why it is such a trendy topic to talk about and why people seem to be so invested in it. Next time, you can also join the conversation, when you find one such happening, and pitch in a few lines to look cool! Jokes apart, this sector is undoubted of profound significance, and a good understanding of it will help you make sound financial decisions when you buy your next house.