79% of Real Estate Agents Haven’t Made a Sale This Year? Check the Source
I saw a statistic making the rounds recently claiming that 79% of real estate agents have not made a sale this year, supposedly according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
That number certainly gets your attention.
It got mine, too.
So I went looking for the NAR report behind it.
I could not find one.
And that is an important reminder for all of us, whether we work in real estate or simply follow the housing market: a statistic repeated often enough on social media does not automatically become a fact.
NAR Has Already Addressed a Similar Claim
Earlier this year, another statistic circulated widely claiming that 71% of REALTORS® closed zero transactions.
NAR specifically disputed that claim.
According to NAR's 2026 Member Profile, only 6% of individual REALTORS® reported zero transaction sides, while 2% of REALTOR® teams reported zero transactions. HousingWire also investigated the viral 71% claim and reported that NAR said the statistic was not NAR data.
The typical REALTOR® in NAR's 2026 Member Profile had 13 years of experience and completed nine transaction sides in 2025.
That is a long way from saying nearly eight out of ten agents sold nothing.
But Real Estate IS a Difficult Business Right Now
We do not need an exaggerated statistic to prove that.
The housing market has been challenging. Higher home prices and mortgage rates have affected affordability, transactions have slowed from the extraordinary pace we saw a few years ago, and some agents have left the business or taken other jobs.
NAR reported that membership has declined from its 2022 peak, and only 71% of REALTORS® surveyed said real estate was their sole profession, the lowest percentage recorded in that survey since 2005.
Those are meaningful numbers.
NAR also reported existing-home sales running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 4.09 million in June 2026, with the national median existing-home sales price at $440,600.
There is plenty to discuss about today's real estate market without inventing statistics.
Where Did the 79% Number Come From?
That is the question I would ask before sharing it.
What report? What survey? What dates? Who was counted?
Does "agents" mean every person holding an active real estate license?
Does it mean REALTORS®?
Does it include referral agents, part-time licensees, commercial agents, property managers or people who maintain a license but are not actively selling homes?
And most importantly, where is the original data?
A graphic on Facebook is not a research report.
Adding the letters "NAR" to a statistic does not make it NAR research.
Numbers Need Context
I've been selling real estate long enough to know that statistics can tell a story, but they can also tell the wrong story when we remove the context.
A national number may have very little to do with what is happening in Walhalla, Salem, Mountain Rest, Seneca, Westminster or around our lakes and mountains in Upstate South Carolina.
Real estate is local.
Some price ranges move faster than others. Lakefront property behaves differently from acreage. Mountain property has a different buyer pool from subdivision homes. One neighborhood can be active while another only a few miles away is sitting quietly.
That is why I want to know where the numbers came from before I repeat them.
Check the Source Before You Share
There is a larger lesson here than whether the number is 71%, 79% or something else.
Our business depends on credibility.
Buyers and sellers make very large financial decisions based partly on the information we provide. They deserve more than a dramatic statistic copied from social media.
When something sounds unbelievable, I am going to do what I have always done:
Ask questions. Check the source. Look at the actual market.
The truth may not make as exciting a headline, but it makes much better real estate advice.
Gwen Fowler Real Estate, Inc.
Serving the mountains, lakes and communities of Upstate South Carolina
864-710-4518
gwen@gfowler.com
www.CoolMountainEscapes.com
Comments(8)