Number of active Phoenix real estate agents down 34% in October – Phoenix Business Journal

The number of real estate agents selling homes in Phoenix dropped 34% from September to October.
It was worse in Mesa, where the number of active agents dropped by 40% during that same time period, according to AgentStory, a Miami, Florida-based tech firm that publishes sales profiles for real estate agents.
The company tracks a metric known as “active agents” to see how many real estate agents are selling homes in any calendar month.
In October, Scottsdale active agents were down 34%, while Arizona active agents overall were down 33%, according to AgentStory.
“Buyers are reluctant to take a 6% loan or more,” said Jonathan Cardella, co-founder and CEO of AgentStory. “Sellers don’t want to list in this environment where they know rates are so high and demand has dried up a lot. We’re seeing a lot of price reductions nationally.”
Geoff Thoren, mortgage loan originator for U.S. Bank in Scottsdale, said he expects to see pressure on mortgage rates into at least the first and second quarter of next year — but not with any large predicted increases.
“The Freddie/Fannie conforming rates will see the most pressure with the Federal Reserve no longer participating in the massive purchase program of Mortgage Backed Securities,” said Thoren, who also serves as a private wealth mortgage banker for U.S. Bank. “Portfolio/Jumbo/Non-Conforming rates remaining lower than Freddie/Fannie rate due to the banks being able to price at lower rates based on their internal cost of funds with lower margins, especially if they want to capture market share.”
In October, there were 2,393 active agents in Arizona. Of those, 713 were in Phoenix, 311 were in Mesa, and 308 in Scottsdale, which are the three cities AgentStory studied.
Indeed, a lot of agents are getting out of the real estate business — and that is clearly shown in the numbers, said Carson Eilers, designated broker for Original Realty Co.
However, October was a good month for his brokerage; and even close to one of his best months, Eilers said.
“We saw our transactions trend upwards,” he said. “I think the reason for this is we are diving in deeper with our agents and focusing on sales training specifically for this type of market. The ones that are doing the training regularly are doing well.”
Greg Hague, CEO of Scottsdale-based 72Sold, said he’s not experiencing a drop in the number of licensed agents at his firm.
“But we are experiencing a significant drop in the amount of monthly business each agent is transacting,” Hague said. “This is a logical result of lower buyer demand and decreasing monthly sales.”
At the beginning of the year, home sales started at 2021 levels, then plummeted by 30 to 40% below 2021 numbers, he noted, citing The Cromford Report.
“That’s why the number of ‘active agents’ — one sale a month — is equivalently lower,” Hague said.
Eilers recalled that he got into real estate in 2008 when the market was contracting.
“I remember going to real estate school when I first started; seeing all luxury cars and two years later when I went for renewal, all the vehicles were average,” Eilers said. “I’m just bringing this up because these times are hard for agents and we will see contraction. The ones that get ahead are the ones that dive deep and get better at their sales skills.”
Eilers said it’s actually good to see some agents leaving the business.
“It just creates more opportunity for the ones that want to take care of their clients and improve in real estate sales,” he said.
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