The commercial real estate brokerage industry is at the edge ofa demographic precipice. According to NAR research, with a medianage of 60 years old, CRE brokers as a group are substantially olderthan the average funeral home director (median age of 53.1),textile mill worker (51.5) and religious organization employee(51.5), who work at the three oldest industries as recorded by theBureau of Labor Statistics for 2017. How did this happen?

The following are five factors that havecontributed to the aging of the CRE industry:

*A tale of two recessions. Generation X andmillennials were both hit at the beginning of their careers withrecessions (the early 1990s and 2007). This meant that CRE was nota career option for young or new to the business professionals foryears at a time. There was also a hangover effect from theserecessions, where young people didn't see their peers in theindustry and, as a result, CRE careers were rarely on their radarscreen.

*The dominance of dinosaur companies. Anindustry- wide resistance to technology and the dominance ofcompanies with over 100 years of history do not fit the culturalexpectations of the entrepreneurial, growth- oriented companiesthat young people want to work for today.