Real Estate agents are fleeing the Auckland market with last year's figures showing hundreds of agents had given up their licences.
Industry experts predict the number of agents to keep declining, as concerns for the housing market grow.
"I’d put it down to a lack of turnover property sales, so there’s less properties to sell so more people are leaving the industry,” Ray White salesperson Tom Rawson told 1 NEWS.
Real Estate Authority data from 2016 revealed 3331 agents were without a license because of cancellation, surrendered, suspended or expiration.
In 2017 it was over four thousand, and 2018 reached a peak of 5041.
Data also reveals the majority of agents puting their licences on hold are from our biggest city, as the Auckland market continues to slide.
In Flat Bush, there’s half the number of houses on the market than there was a year ago.
"Some agents haven’t sold a property in half a year or so, that’s half a year without pay."
However the number of agents nationwide are promising – with areas outside of Auckland picking up the numbers although industry experts say at least 40% of licenses leave the industry within two years.
"The perceived glamour of getting into real estate, make a quick dollar, is not actually what it is, and I think that's what you'll hear from a lot of licencees," Real Estates Authority spokesperson Kevin Lampen-Smith told 1 NEWS.
"It takes hard work to make it and that is reflected in the high number of people who don't last longer than a few years."
Rawson advises fellow struggling competitors to hang in there with a somewhat of a silver lining belief that although there’s less properties for sale, there are still properties to be sold.
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