Highlights of NAR Profile of Home Sellers

Nov 12, 2019

For most consumers, selling your home is one of the largest financial transactions you will make. Needing to sell a home may be caused by a change in employment, relocating, desire to downsize, or the need for a smaller or larger living area.

Each year the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® conducts a survey of recent home sellers.

Here's a snapshot of the findings from the 2019 Report:

Home Sellers and Their Selling Experience

For all sellers, the most commonly cited reason for selling their home was the desire to move closer to friends and family (16%), that it was too small (13%), and a job relocation (11%).
89% of home sellers worked with a real estate agent to sell their home.
For recently sold homes, the ﬁnal sales price was a median of 99% of the ﬁnal listing price.
34% of all sellers offered incentives to attract buyers.

Home Selling and Real Estate Professionals

75% of recent sellers contacted only one agent before ﬁnding the right agent they worked with to sell their home.
89% of sellers listed their homes on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is the number one source for sellers to list their home.
75% of sellers reported that they provided the agent’s compensation.

For-Sale-by-Owner (FSBO) Sellers

The median age for FSBO sellers is 60 years.
65% of FSBO sales were by married couples that have a median household income of $94,000.
FSBOs typically sell for less than the selling price of other homes; FSBO homes sold at a median of $200,000 last year (the same as the year prior), and signiﬁcantly lower than the median of agent-assisted homes at $280,000.
FSBO homes sold more quickly on the market than agent-assisted homes.
58% of FSBO homes sold in less than two weeks—often because homes were sold to someone the seller knows.