More Men Drawn to Real Estate Sales Careers : Trends: Survey shows field is attracting more male agents, college graduates, younger brokers and agents with less selling experience.

California real estate selling is attracting more men, more college graduates and younger brokers and agents with less selling experience, according to a survey by the California Assn. of Realtors.

For the first time since 1983, the percentage of male sales agents exceeded the number of females responding to the survey, increasing from 44.1% in 1987 and 48% in 1988 to 52.5% in 1989. The majority of recent entrants--52.1% of salespersons and 70% of brokers--were male.

The 10 1/2-page survey was prepared by the CAR’s research department and was mailed to a random sample of 4,500 members, according to the association’s Lotus Lou. A total of 926 questionnaires, or 20.6%, were returned. “Pretty high for a survey of this size,” she said.

She added that the CAR has 140,000 members, about 40% of the 356,302 real estate licensees in California.

More than one out of four--27%--of the realtors responding to the survey were new to real estate sales, with a year of experience or less in 1989. This is a sharp increase from the 17.9% in the 1988 survey.

The median ages of 48 for brokers and 41 for salespersons was unchanged from 1988, but it is a statistically significant drop from the 1987 median ages of 50 and 44 for brokers and salespersons, respectively.

In 1989, 63.6% of brokers had a four-year college degree or more education, up from 53.2% in 1988, and 54.4% in 1987, the survey showed.

Young people right out of college are seeing real estate as a “viable and challenging career opportunity,” according to Leslie Appleton-Young, CAR’s director of research and economics.

She said the increasing number of men entering real estate sales is also due to this perception of real estate as an alternative to other careers.

Despite the sales slowdown from 1988, when 562,570 existing single-family houses were sold in California to last year, when 538,770 were sold, the state’s housing market continues to attract young college graduates, according to CAR President Jim Antt Jr. of Bakersfield.

“Newcomers to the state’s real estate brokerage industry benefit from working in the nation’s largest housing market, despite cooling sales following two years of superheated activity,” Antt said.

Gary R. Holme, president of the Los Angeles Board of Realtors, attributes the larger number of young, better educated brokers and salespersons to the shifting focus of real estate as a primary profession, rather than as a “secondary or fallback job for a housewife or an aerospace worker, for instance.”

Holme, executive vice president of the Beaumont Co., Los Angeles, said that when he earned his broker’s license a quarter century ago, real estate was commonly viewed as a secondary occupation for both men and women.

“The greater sophistication required today, along with the higher level of sophistication and education of buyers means that it’s increasingly difficult for those with less education to succeed in real estate.”

All the survey data is from 1989, except for that on income, which is from 1988, the last full year from which such data is available, Appleton-Young said.

BROKER PROFILE FOR 1989

Age: 48 (median of those responding).

Sex: 79.3% of survey respondents were male.

Years licensed: 13 years median.

Education: 63.6% have a 4-year degree.

Earnings: Median annual income in 1988 was $69,500.

SOURCE: California Assn. of Realtors

‘89 AGENT PROFILE

Age: 41 (median of survey respondents).

Sex: 52.5% of survey respondents were male.

Years licensed: 3 years median.

Education: 40% have a 4-year degree.

Earnings: Median annual income in 1988 was $37,000.

SOURCE: California Assn. of Realtors