Around 4 million homes have been sold in the U.S. each year going back to 2023, which might superficially suggest that the real estate agents overseeing this vast volume of property transactions are overburdened. Offerpad, a real estate technology company, put together an analysis to examine this frequently cited figure and determine whether it’s truly as worrying as it first appears. Since then, the CFA has found the same, consistent pattern of vanishingly small sales figures for what is effectively the majority of licensed real estate agents. Consumer demand for greater transparency into how referral fees affect selling prices will further push people to consider going outside the traditional real estate agent ecosystem. An NAR CounterpointWhile not all real estate agents operating nationwide are NAR members, this body has a monopoly on professionals legally allowed to use the term ‘realtor’ to describe themselves.