"If You Catch One Well, Hundreds or Thousands" Is Old Saying... Certified Real Estate Agent Exam Takers Plummet

Number of Certified Real Estate Agent Exam Applicants Drops Below 100,000
More Office Closures Than Openings

As the real estate slump that began in the second half of last year continues, there has been a sharp decline in the number of applicants for the licensed real estate agent qualification exam.

A real estate agency office in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

According to the Human Resources Development Service of Korea on the 6th, the number of applicants for the 34th licensed real estate agent qualification exam scheduled for the 28th is 292,993. This is a decrease of 94,712 compared to last year.

The number of applicants for the licensed real estate agent qualification exam has been decreasing every year since reaching an all-time high of 408,492 in 2021. Industry insiders analyze that this phenomenon has occurred due to a decline in real estate transaction volume.

According to the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza, the monthly maximum number of apartment transactions in Seoul in 2020 was 15,621. However, from the end of the following year, as the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes were anticipated, the transaction volume began to plummet.

To address the real estate market slump, the government implemented comprehensive deregulation measures with the October 27th policy last year and the January 3rd policy this year, but the transaction volume has yet to recover to previous levels. The highest transaction volume this year was 3,849 in June.

As the transaction volume decreased, the number of closed licensed real estate agent offices has surpassed the number of newly opened offices nationwide. This reversal phenomenon has continued for one year from August last year to August this year, except for January this year.

An official from the Korea Association of Licensed Real Estate Agents explained, "The industry analyzes the increase or decrease in the number of opened and closed real estate agent offices as a leading indicator of future market conditions," adding, "This indicates that the brokerage market views the market outlook as bleak for a considerable period."

He added, "Since high interest rates are a global phenomenon, many expect it to be difficult to improve," and "The frozen buying sentiment and market atmosphere also play a significant role."

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