The Top 20% of Agents Do 85% of Transactions — They Dominate the Market
The Top 20% of Agents Do 85% (65%) of Transactions
By Joshua Lopour and Lowell Boone.
Recently, an article written by Mike DelPrete titled, "The Top 20% of Agents Do 65% of Transactions," offers an interesting take on the productivity distribution in real estate. Our initial reaction to this article was a bit of a head scratcher because most people believe the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) is anecdotally true. However, the conclusion—that the industry is "not that concentrated" is an over-simplification. This is especially true if you’re a high performing agent involved in many negotiations.
Here’s the TL:DR: The Top 20% of agents do nearly 85% of all transactions. More than 50% of agents do ZERO transactions.
The Critical Methodological Difference
The biggest divergence between DelPrete’s figures and the data we present lies in who’s counted as an “agent.” His analysis, based on CoreLogic/Cotality, includes only agents who closed at least one transaction in 2024—roughly 840,000 "producing agents."
In contrast, our analysis includes all agents who are:
Actively paying MLS dues, and affiliated with a real estate brokerage, whether they’ve done a deal or not.
This distinction matters. By excluding the bottom-performing or inactive agents, DelPrete’s data masks the steepest part of the curve—the tail end where the majority of agents reside but produce no volume. Our dataset reflects the real agent landscape: not just those producing, but also those still credentialed, licensed, and paying to play.
Data Snapshot: A Truer Picture of Concentration
Quintile% of Total Transactions
Top 20% (Q1) - 84.8%
Next 20% (Q2) - 12.2%
Middle 20% (Q3) - 3.0%
Bottom 40% - 0%
This data, unlike the filtered national average, includes part-time, new, and non-producing agents—and therefore gives a far more realistic sense of just how concentrated the industry is. Nearly half of licensed agents in our dataset did no deals at all during the year.
Why the Full Pool Matters
By excluding non-producers, you risk:
Underestimating the challenges of new agents entering the field.
Misrepresenting market competitiveness for vendors and partners.
Missing key signals about agent churn, part-time participation, and training needs.
In fact, understanding the full agent base is crucial for brokerages, tech platforms, and MLSs designing systems for recruitment, support, or onboarding.
Conclusion: When the Whole Picture is Revealed, the Curve Gets Steeper
DelPrete’s research is valuable and insightful—but it represents a partial view of the market. When we zoom out and include all credentialed, dues-paying agents, the concentration of production becomes not just steep—it’s almost vertical. In many markets, the top 20% don’t do 65% of deals—they do nearly 85%.
For anyone building tools, teams, or strategies in real estate, this isn’t just a statistical footnote. It’s a foundational truth.
