Though Realtors, on average, are less experienced in 2012 than in 2011, they are still on the whole an experienced bunch.

The typical Realtor was less experienced in 2012 than in 2011, according to the latest numbers from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which found that Realtors last year had, on average, 11 years of experience, down from 12 years in 2011.

Interestingly, those numbers are consistent with what we found in our last Truth About Agents survey (and FYI: polling for 2013’s survey ends soon! Fill out the survey here).

Realtor Experience in 2012

Brokers who do not sell, NAR found, have an average of 25 years experience (compared to 20 years for brokers who do sell), while sales agents have nine years. Other details NAR found include:

• Eighty percent of Realtors have been in the industry for six years or more, and 25 percent have worked for six to 10 years, the largest segment of the Realtor population.
• Roughly a third of sales agents, meanwhile, have less than six years of experience.

NAR also dug a little deeper into its data, and found how Realtor experience corresponds to a Realtor’s position:

• For instance, Realtors with zero to two years of experience are typically sales agents, while Realtors with six to 10 years of experience are associate brokers.
• Managers who sell, meanwhile, have 11 to 15 years experience, and managers who don’t have 16 to 25 years.
• And finally, Realtors with 26 or more years of experience are typically broker/owners.

It Pays to Have Experience

Two conclusions immediately spring to mind when viewing this data: one, that it definitely pays to have experience in real estate, and two, that though the average experience of Realtors did decline in 2012, Realtors are in general an experienced crowd, a solid contradiction to the stereotype of the young, brash, inexperienced real estate agent.

And certainly, the success of more experienced Realtors is as good an incentive as any for agents to stick with the industry through their first few years.

But do those findings coincide with the real estate professionals that you work with? And does that hierarchy of positions ring true? Let us know in the comments.