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The share of real estate agents in November who said they’ve considered leaving the industry was one-and-a-half times what surveys showed heading into 2025. Here’s what’s weighing on them.

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As the real estate transaction downturn has stretched from a multi-month correction into a multi-year slog, more agents have been mulling a departure from their field, Intel surveys suggest.

The results of November’s Intel Index survey reinforce a clear trend since last year: Agents are increasingly likely to say that they’ve thought about leaving the industry, even if many of them aren’t acting on their frustrations quite yet.

32 percent of agent respondents said they had considered leaving the industry at some point in the last 12 months.
That share is 1.5 times as high as the portion of agents who said the same heading into this year.

This week, Intel takes a deep look at how this group of “fence-sitters” — agents who say they’ve considered leaving real estate in recent months — are driven by different factors and motivations from those at this time last year.

Read the full takeaways in this week’s report.

What today’s ‘fence-sitter’ looks like

Unlike this time last year, the most obvious attribute of an agent who considered bolting from the industry was significant loss of business and low transaction revenue.

64 percent of fence-sitting agents in November said their buyer pipeline was “substantially lighter” than the same time last year, a big jump from the 37 percent who said the same the previous December.
The share of fence-sitters who reported conducting no transactions over the past year nearly doubled from just under 7 percent in December of last year to 11 percent last month.

An influx of new inventory may have blunted this effect on the listing side. Still, agents who contemplated a real estate exit this year were likelier to report thinning seller pipelines as well.

39 percent of fence-sitters said their listing pipelines were substantially lighter than the same time last year, a 12-point increase from December 2024.

Like many agents, fence-sitters are increasingly reporting friction with buyer clients attempting to negotiate compensation.

59 percent of fence-sitting agents said at least some of their buyer clients tried to negotiate compensation, up from 45 percent at the end of last year.

Agents who had thought about leaving the industry this year were also more likely to report dissatisfaction with the industry’s largest trade association.

42 percent of fence-sitters said that NAR was not a positive for the industry, compared to 35 percent of fence-sitters in the closing days of 2024.

These numbers paint a picture of agents who are increasingly pressured by business conditions, and who are struggling to find clients, conduct transactions and earn commissions. And because more agents find themselves in this position today than last year, it’s a key driver in the number of agents who have at least entertained moving on.

A different crop

Last year, things looked quite different.

Business conditions were far from ideal in 2024, but the challenges were a bit different from what agents feel most acutely today. And fewer agents were eyeing the exit door, Intel’s surveys suggest.

And digging deeper, it seems industry upheaval was what drove agents to consider leaving, the results suggest.

The key market-based factor that was weighing more on fence-sitting agents last year was — no surprise — inventory.

30 percent of fence-sitting agent respondents in December 2024 named “lack of housing inventory” as their top business concern.
By the following November, that share had dipped to 22 percent, a move that was largely offset by a rising focus on mortgage rates and affordability.

In the early days of the NAR settlement rules going into effect, agents were also more sensitive to downward pressure on commissions. This fear may have also played a role in agents considering a career change.

40 percent of the 2024 group of fence-sitters observed that commissions had “decreased slightly” since the settlement rules went into effect.
By November 2025, that share dropped to 27 percent.

And while most agents who considered a departure from the industry didn’t actually leave, some did end up switching brokerages — and leaving clues in Intel’s surveys about what was on their mind.

Those who had considered leaving the industry in 2024 and ended up switching brokerages instead were especially likely to say they left their old brokerage seeking a better commission or compensation structure.
In contrast, recent brokerage-hoppers who entertained a real estate exit in 2025 were more likely to have switched companies in pursuit of better technology.

All around, the surveys suggest that agents at the bottom rung of the brokerage ladder had a particularly hard year — and more than a few seriously considered calling it quits.

As the page turns to 2026, Intel will continue to keep tabs on the agent experience in this difficult market.

Methodology notes: This month’s Inman Intel Index survey ran from Nov. 20-Dec. 3, 2025, and received 485 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.

Email Daniel Houston

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