Agents, brokers and appraisers working in commercial real estate made more money last year than ever before, despite the fact that tight inventories have slowed transactions.
According to a survey by the National Association of Realtors, professionals working in the commercial real estate market last year raked in an average of $150,700 – about $30,000 more than they made the year before.
The median sales volume for commercial members also rose in 2017, increasing more than $300,000 to $3,870,500.
But even though they are making more money, commercial members are doing fewer deals. The survey revealed that sales transactions are slowly decreasing, down from eight in 2016 to seven in 2017.
That’s because the median dollar value of sales was $602,500 – up from $543,500 in 2016.
“The commercial real estate industry is strong and is on pace with the growing economy. Although there is a slight decrease in transactions, commercial professionals have reported improvements in their markets and business activity for consecutive years. Realtors reported that sales volume and costs of sales increased this year, as well as median gross annual income,” said NAR President John Smaby.
The survey includes input from 2,324 NAR members working in various aspects of commercial real estate, including sales, leasing, brokerage and development for land, office, industrial space, multifamily and retail buildings, and property management.
NAR said 51% of its commercial members said they primarily worked in sales, while 16% focused on leasing and 12% on investments.
Of those surveyed, 29% worked with commercial buildings, with 13% on multifamily structures, retail and office space.
NAR said the median age of its commercial members is 60, the same as last year, and that 39% were female, a 12% uptick from the year before.
Most said they were logging full-time hours, with 78% saying they worked at least 40 hours a week.
“Commercial real estate professionals are reporting great growth in the past year, which has convinced more and more members to enter the commercial industry,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The economy is expanding along with tight labor market have boosted income for Realtors in the commercial space.”
