As of the end of the 3rd quarter of 2015 there were 18,067 Realtors in Minnesota. During the peak of the home sales boom in 2006 there were more than 25,000. We reached a low in 2012 of 16,071 in 2012 and the numbers have been going up every year since then. In 2011 we hit bottom in both home values and home sales in Minnesota, which explains why there were fewer of us in 2012 which for me was a wonderful year.
I don’t know how many people in Minnesota have real estate licenses. Realtors are members of the National Association of Realtors. Here in the Twin Cities the majority of real estate licensees who sell residential real estate are Realtors. Realtors own the local MLS. Most if not all of the large real estate companies require that their agents join the National Association.
The data used to create this chart came from the National Association of Realtors membership data. Getting a real estate license in Minnesota is fairly easy to do. Becoming a member of NAR is just a matter of having a license and paying the dues.
As far as I know there has never been a shortage of real estate agents in Minnesota or anyplace else in the US. I get a lot of calls and emails from people this time of year who kind of want to try it out. The biggest challenge to real estate agents isn’t selling houses it is finding clients. The competition is fierce.
Here is an article I wrote about how to get a real estate license in Minnesota.
