"Lowest Number of Realtors Ever" Real Estate Agencies Vanishing... "Direct Deals" Surge 220-Fold

More than 7,200 real estate agencies in Seoul have disappeared over the past three years.

This means roughly one out of every six agencies has shut its doors.

According to Seoul's statistics on livelihood-close businesses, the number of real estate agencies in Seoul stood at 36,545 in the first quarter of this year.

Following a peak of 43,792 in the first quarter of 2023, the number has plummeted by 16.5% over a three-year period.

Experts analyze that while the government's stringent loan regulations and economic stagnation played a role, agencies have also lost their ground due to the emergence of "AI real estate proxies."

Revenues of member companies of the Korea Proptech Forum, which includes major domestic proptech firms like Zigbang and Dabang, surged by over 80% from 1.8518 trillion won in 2021 to 3.3735 trillion won last year.

Direct transactions have grown at an even steeper rate.

Successful real estate transactions on the online platform Danggn increased more than 220-fold, from 268 cases in 2021 to 59,451 cases in 2024.

With the market in this state, the once-hot popularity of the certified public realtor exam has drastically frozen.

Last year, the number of applicants for the first-tier realtor exam dropped to 80,387, hitting a 11-year low.

The number of applicants has shrunk by nearly 60% in just four years.

Industry insiders forecast that even if sluggish real estate transactions recover, realtors will struggle to survive using conventional methods.

While information such as local market prices, quick-sale details, and development plans used to be the exclusive domain of realtors, both buyers and sellers can now easily access such information.

Experts point out that to remain competitive, realtors must move beyond their traditional, simple role of introducing buyers and sellers, and expand into broader responsibilities such as verifying risk factors and guaranteeing transactions.

Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.