If you Google the failure rate of new agents, you’ll see this statistic pop up on multiple sites:

87% of Real Estate Agents Fail in the First 5 Years

Perhaps this stat was promulgated through internet group think (people just kept requoting it from pervious articles).

Or, it may have been an accurate assessment at some point in the past (perhaps in the period during and shortly after the last downturn).

Regardless of where this failure percentage stat came from, it appears to be wrong.

According to NAR’s most recent member profile and a conversation with one of NAR’s data analysts, the failure rate of new agents is somewhere between 40% and 50%.

In this case, failure rate is being defined as those who get a real estate license and then leave the industry within the first five years.

It’s important to recognize that measurements around employment often change, and sometimes change quickly.

If your job is to encourage someone to jump into a career field where 87% of people fail, it’s depressing.

Especially, if it’s not true.