In Portugal, there are now 6,800 real estate agencies. But how many real estate agents are there? We’ve estimated that there could be 56,000 real estate agents in Portugal.
In Portugal, there are now 6,800 real estate agencies and 56,000 real estate agents
ForeignBuyersWatch.com
6,800 real estate agencies
According to IMPIC there are 6,888 real estate agencies in Portugal (November 2019). Although there is no official count of real estate agents, we can calculate this number.
Indeed, Expresso.pt wrote that in late 2016, there were 40,000 people working in real estate. And that year, 127,106 homes were sold in Portugal. While in 2018, 178,691 homes were sold (Idealista). So that gives us a good indication on how many people can make a living selling homes.
56,000 real estate agents
If in 2016 there were 40,000 people working in the real estate sector, in 2018 with 40.5% more transactions, an estimated 56,000 people were working in real estate.
8 agents per agency
With an estimated 56,000 brokers, and an official 6,888 agencies, there are 8 agents per agency on average. However, this number might become irrelevant due to the growth in networks of independent agents. Indeed, brands such as Predimed (292 agents), IAD Portugal (150 agents in Lisbon’s region, 89 in Algarve, 50 in Porto), and even REMAX Portugal (7940 agents) may change this number.
Indeed, in many companies, the agents are not employees, but independent workers. Therefore, at IAD Portugal, you will only find agents. Not agencies. And at REMAX, they claim 338 agencies for 7940 agents, showing an average number of agents per agency of 23.5. Which is way superior to the average 8 that we found before.
Therefore, we should now focus more and more on the number of agents, rather than agencies.
Over 13,000 agents work for these brands
The top 3 leading real estate agencies concentrate 10,000 agents. More than 13,000 real estate agents work for the top 6 brands that we could identify: REMAX, ERA, Century21, MaisConsultores, IAD, and Predimed:
- REMAX = 8,000 agents
- ERA = 2,400 agents
- Century21 = 1,400 agents
- MaisConsultores 900 agents
- IAD Portugal = 400 agents
- Predimed = 320 agents
More than 10,000 real estate agents work for the top 3 real estate agencies (REMAX, ERA and Century21)
