The vast majority of commercial real estate professionals — 80 percent — are male, and most don’t rank among the super rich, with 24 percent of commercial real estate agents reporting that they earned less than $100,000 in gross commission income each year and 16 percent from $101,000 to $150,000 each year.
Those are two of the statistical nuggets unearthed in this year’s DNA of CRE survey compiled by online brokerage theBrokerList and Buildout, a company that produces marketing software for CRE brokerages. This is the second year that these two companies have partnered on the survey.
Some things haven’t changed much since the first survey last year. There’s the fact that commercial real estate remains a male-dominated industry. It’s also an industry led by older brokers. The survey found that 27 percent of CRE pros were from the ages of 50 to 59, while 20 percent were 60 to 69. Only 6 percent of CRE pros were from the ages of 21 to 29, while 20 percent were 30 to 39.
What roles do CRE pros assume today? The survey found that 34 percent of them spend the most time representing sellers in investment sales, while 22 percent spend the majority of their time representing landlords in leasing deals. An additional 21 percent said they spend the most time representing tenants in lease transactions, while 12 percent spent the greatest chunk of their time representing buyers in investment sales.
The south, as it did last year, remains the top source of business for commercial agents. A total of 32 percent of respondents said that most of their business came from the south, while 29 percent said that the west provided most of their business. Just 21 percent of respondents said that the Midwest provided most of their business.
When it comes to income, the greatest percentage of agents said that their gross commission income was under $100,000, with 24 percent of agents reporting this level of income. A total of 16 percent of agents said that their gross commission income came in at $150,001 to $200,000, while 15 percent said it was $200,001 to $300,000. A total of 10 percent said that their gross commission income was $500,000 to $1 million, while just 5 percent reported earning commission income of $1 million to $2 million.
And the big earners? The survey found that only 1 percent of respondents claimed to have earned gross commission income of $2 million or more.
