Consumers seeking out Realtors more in 2011

The 2011 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers surveyed 5,708 home buyers and sellers, and report that most buyers (89 percent) purchase their home through a real estate agent or broker, in fact, the percentage is at a ten year high, rising twenty percent in the last decade.

The other two ways consumers bought a home that did not involve a real estate agent were directly from a new home builder (7 percent) or directly from the previous owner (4 percent).

Regionally, the use of a Realtor varied with 93 percent of homes in the West purchased through an agent. In the South, NAR reports 86 percent of homes purchased through an agent with 9 percent of homes bought directly from the builder given the rise of new home construction in the region. In the Midwest, 90 percent of homes were bought with the aide of a Realtor and 88 percent in the Northeast.

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Single buyers were most likely to use a real estate professional to purchase their home and least likely to purchase directly through the builder regardless of gender.

This is good news for a struggling industry that although is not dwindling in numbers of professionals, but is earning less in recent years since the housing bubble burst.

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