CRE Brokers Made More Money in 2018
Survey says brokers also expect to be in the real estate business for the rest of their careers.
The majority of commercial real estate brokers made more money in 2018 than in 2017, according to the latest Apto National Broker Buzz Poll. The surveyed brokers also expect more of the same financial success in 2019.
“Rising macroeconomic tides in the US lifted commercial real estate boats in 2018,” says Tanner McGraw, founder of Apto, a commercial real estate software company. 2019 bodes well for the macroeconomy and the commercial real estate sector, though there are plenty of jitters with the US government partially shutting down and over trade, interest rates, and questions about whether the corporate tax cuts will be as much of a boon in 2019, he adds.
Other insights from the latest Apto poll reveal that commercial real estate brokers plan on being in the industry for the rest of their work-life with 93% of brokers positively responding and only 7% saying no. “The commercial brokerage profession is as sexy as ever. For many brokers, it’s not just a job but a way of life… they live and breathe the asset class, the sales and advisory culture, the thrill of negotiations and the satisfaction of closing deals. But brokers are experiencing a rise in productivity and efficiency,” McGraw says.
As for predicting the future of the CRE brokerage profession, 41% said that 10 years from now there will be “fewer CRE brokers than today.” One reason for that may be that technology is finally helping brokers by accelerating transactions so they can do more deals, says McGraw. “This suggests somewhat fewer professionals may be needed per capita 10 years from now.” At the same time the survey also found that 32% of respondents predicted “more CRE brokers than today” and 27% said there will be “the same number of CRE brokers” as today.
When discussing if a particular niche in the CRE industry has generated more income than others, McGraw says “we can only infer from the results, but based on our sense of the market, there is fundamental strength across the board, but with the apartment sector the strongest, retail the weakest, and industrial and office somewhere in between.”