The Real Estate Bubble.

I’ve been a realtor since 1989 and naively breezed through the first recession, preceded by a massive jump in prices and followed by a “correction” and then by still-water stagnation that lasted well into the 2000s.

2008 brought more excitement and now we are in the thick of the quickest, craziest market I have seen in my career.

Along with prices jumping, the membership of Hamilton Real Estate Board seems to follow the curve. The Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington just hit the 3000 mark for members, a deja vu of sorts. The last time the board had 3000 members was 1989, after that one-third of local real estate agents packed up and got other jobs.

We hovered around the 2000 mark well into the 2000s.

A lot of new realtors have jumped on the bandwagon and I suspect, when the dust settles, a large portion will bid the exciting world of real estate adieu.

Over 100,000 people are selling real estate in Canada, or, one Realtor per 245 Canadians over the age of 19.

In Toronto, things are tense, and dense. Thirty-nine thousand Realtors equals 140 people per real estate agent in the Greater Toronto Area.

A decade ago, TREB, (Toronto Real Estate Board) numbered 20,000 members. That’s half!!!!

Although the industry has always been a revolving door and success rate is relatively low, the current market has brought out a lot of new talent; agents committed to a professional profession, but at the same time, the so-called “speculative agent” who is quickly licenced and doing one transaction a year is certainly, in my opinion,  a danger to themselves and to their clients.

We’ll do a headcount next spring. My money is on the membership sliding down to 2500.