Ask Eli: How many agents worked in Arlington last year?

This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: How many different real estate agents do business in Arlington in a typical year?

Answer: There were 3,535 real estate transactions in Arlington in 2021, well above the 2,770 and 2,782 in the previous two years, totaling over $2.786B in total sales volume, up from $2.16B and $1.96B in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Most people would probably assume a few hundred different real estate agents worked on those 3,535 transactions, but in fact there were 2,799 different agents who were involved at least one transaction in Arlington last year (remember, most transactions have two agents involved).

I looked over the 2021 Arlington transaction data and pulled out some interesting highlights below. Of note, there are real estate teams that enter all sales under one agent’s name, so in these cases, individual numbers represent the production of multiple agents rolled into one agent’s name (I don’t have transparency into that data).

Here’s a link to an article I wrote in 2019 explaining how different agents/teams are structured.

• 9% of the agents who did business in Arlington last year were involved in just one Arlington transaction (many did other business outside of Arlington)
• Just 3.5% of agents handled 10 or more transactions in Arlington and .6% handled 20 or more transactions
• 1,894 different agents represented buyers in Arlington and 25 of them (1.3%) worked with 10 or more buyers in Arlington
• 1,639 different agents represented sellers in Arlington and 42 of them (2.6%) worked with 10 or more sellers in Arlington
• Of the 1,178 agents who handled 2 or more transactions in Arlington, they averaged 4.5 transactions each
• Keri Shull and her team once again led Arlington in transactions and sales volume, by a wide margin, participating in roughly 7.9% of the transactions in Arlington and handling just under $160M in Arlington sales volume

Most studies suggest that consumers are less concerned with measures like sales volume and more focused on the strength of communication and trustworthiness of the agent they’re working with, but market expertise and experience are still important factors for most people.

Many people see the low barrier to entry for real estate licensing, and the resulting high volume of agents, as a negative, but it also means that you have a lot of choices as a consumer and, with some effort, can make sure that you’re working with somebody who provides the type service you’re looking for and the experience to match.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at 703-539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. 703-390-9460.