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 Eli Residential channel. Enjoy!
Question: How many different real estate agents are doing business in Arlington?
Answer: There were 2,239 real estate transactions in Arlington last year, totaling $1.91B in sales volume, well below 2022’s totals of 2,795 transactions and $2.26B in volume.
There were 2,136 licensed real estate agents involved in at least one sale in Arlington in 2023, compared to 2,491 agents in 2022. Each transaction usually includes two real estate agents — one representing the buyer and another representing the seller.
I looked over the 2023 Arlington transaction data and pulled out some interesting highlights below. I removed a few agents whose business is all or mostly in-house sales (for a builder or building). Of note, there are some real estate teams that enter all sales under one agent’s name, so in these cases, individual numbers represent the production of many agents rolled under one agent’s name, but I don’t have transparency into that data to sparse it.
Here’s a link to an article I wrote in 2019 explaining how different agents/teams are structured.
- 61% of agents who did business last year in Arlington had just one sale in Arlington (many of those had more sales outside of Arlington) and accounted for 26% of the total sales volume
- 4% (29) of agents handled 10+ transactions in Arlington
- 2% (5) of agents handled 20+ transactions in Arlington
- 1,425 different agents represented buyers, 31 (1.5%) represented 5+ buyers
- 1,191 different agents represented sellers, 57 (2.7%) represented 5+ sellers
- 14 (.6%) agents handled 5+ buyer transactions and 5+ seller transactions
- The top 10% producing agents in Arlington accounted for 44% of sales volume
- There has been a major shift at the top of the charts this year. For many years, Keri Shull and her team dominated the top spots in total transactions and volume by a huge margin (tens of millions last year and $100M+ in 2021). Congratulations to Betsy Twigg (volume) and Kay Houghton (transactions) on claiming top stops in total business in Arlington for 2023.
- The highest average sale price with at least three transactions in Arlington is Steve Watson with an average price over $2.8M across 11 listings
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 considerations.
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 of 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 Eli Residential channel.
Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10CA