Real Estate Brokerage Closures at a 19-Year Low... 400,000 Candidates Take the Exam

On the 17th, ahead of the real estate brokerage fee reform, property listings are posted at a real estate agency in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

The number of real estate agent office closures in the first half of this year reached the lowest level in 19 years. The real estate agent exam attracted a record high of 408,492 applicants.

According to the Korea Association of Realtors on the 19th, from January to June this year, there were 9,302 new real estate agent openings nationwide, 5,822 closures, and 421 temporary suspensions. The number of closures is the lowest in 19 years since the first half of 2002 (5,153 cases).

On an annual basis, closures last year totaled 12,773, marking the lowest in 18 years since 2002 (10,794 cases). Openings last year were 17,561, which is an increase compared to the previous year (16,916 cases).

The surge in housing prices has led to a boom in the real estate brokerage market, resulting in fewer closures and more openings. Accordingly, as of the first half of this year, the number of active real estate agents reached 117,738, approaching 120,000. This is an increase of 6,722 agents compared to the end of last year (111,016 agents) over six months.

The real estate agent exam is also experiencing a boom. The 32nd real estate agent exam, which closed registration on the 13th, attracted 408,492 applicants, an increase of 65,481 from last year (343,011 applicants). This is the highest number of applicants since the real estate agent system was introduced.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.