Glut of agents in Dallas-Fort Worth prompts scramble for listings as supply dwindles

Thousands of new agents flooded market during housing boom

Dallas-Fort Worth, Supply Dwindles
Dallas-Fort Worth (iStock)

The Dallas-Fort Worth area saw a surge in the number of real estate agents during the pandemic-driven housing boom, and now that the number of homes for sale is shrinking, all those brokers are fighting for listings.

The number of agents subscribed to the listing service used to sell homes across North Texas grew 24 percent between 2020 and 2021, according to the Dallas Morning News, and that means fierce competition as the market cools down.

“To get a listing is like gold in this market,” said Daniel Nolley, who joined Ebby Halliday Realtors with his partner, Morgan Grounds, in January. So far this year, they have only managed to put three listings under contract.

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Texas realtors with about two years of experience or less brought in a median gross income of just $9,300 in 2020, the National Association of Realtors’ reports, compared to $38,750 for all agents across Texas that year.

There were about six agents for each single-family home listed for sale in North Texas in April, which made it even more difficult for even experienced agents to find homes to sell, much less new agents who have yet to make many connections in the community.

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“For new agents coming in who are really trying to figure out the pace and how to jump into it … it can be very frustrating,” said Bryan Pacholski, senior managing director for Compass in Dallas.

But some brokerages still want to increase agent headcount despite the glut.

Rogers Healy of Rogers Healy Real Estate launched a program at the end of 2020 to help cover the cost of real estate school for up to 1,000 agents per year who are interested in joining the company.

He sees the brutally competitive environment as an excellent proving ground for realtors with the right stuff.

“The people who are grinding their faces off and actually generating revenue, they have the ability to go and make a name for themselves,” Healy said.

[Dallas Morning News] — James Bell