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According to Statistics Canada, the GTA had a population of approximately 7.1 million people in July 2024 (I haven’t found more up-to-date population data).
The Globe and Mail reported approximately 69,000 members of TRREB in Jan. 2024 (TRREB’s website currently says they serve 70,000.)
Some quick math tells me there was 1 real estate agent for every 103 people in the GTA in 2024 (and 2025).
I sent an email out last year with this headline, and people found it very interesting, so I thought I’d update it for this year… only problem being that not much has changed. So, I sat down and added more data points, including Provincial and National data.
Seems like a lot of agents… How many homes actually sell in the GTA annually?
TRREB’s reporting says 62,433 homes sold in 2025 (this includes freehold and condo ownership and was the lowest annual number of sales in 25 years)… this amounts to less than 1 home sold per real estate agent.
“I’m tired of hearing about the GTA agents; Canada is more than Toronto.”
Well, here’s some Provincial and National Data, followed up by Windsor-Essex data.
Ontario has a population of approximately 15 million people, and approximately 90,000-100,000 (let’s use 90,000) real estate agents… or 1 real estate agent for every 168 Ontarians.
There were just over 163,000 sales in Ontario (per CREA) in 2025. This translates to approximately 1.8 home transactions per real estate agent.
Canada has a population of somewhere from 40-41.5 million people, and approximately 160,000 real estate agents… or 1 real estate agent for every 250 Canadians.
There were just over 470,000 sales in Canada (per CREA) in 2025. This translates to approximately 3 home transactions per real estate agent.
3 homes sold per agent is the point that comes through in this analysis from a national basis, but the number that matters more to the industry is the number of ends per agent to account for the buyer sides, commercial and land transactions, off-market or pre-construction deals, and leases…
So, let’s assume there are 7 ends per agent available in Canada.
That’s assuming equal distribution of business; however, the 80/20 rule seems to be alive and well, where you have the top 20% of the market doing 80% of the business… which doesn’t leave a whole lot of meat on the bone for the influx of agents to the industry that we’ve seen over the last decade.
If you’ve ever read Gary Keller’s book “Shift,” you’ll recognize it playing out in real time right now.
Keller describes the natural progression of a real estate market shift. When interest rates are low, the number of sales are increasing, and prices are climbing… everyone decides to get a real estate license.
When factors affecting the real estate market change, like rapid interest rate increases, for example, the market cools… prices decline, sales volumes drop, average days on market increase, etc.
That makes sense from an economic fundamentals standpoint… Only there are still a lot of Real Estate Agents. Why does it actually seem like the number of agents continues to grow, despite the cooling market? Because of the time it takes for people to become licensed. Licenses lag behind the market changes.
What happens next?
There’s typically a “race to the bottom” for the lowest commission rates amongst agents that are unable to show their value to the marketplace. But when lowest commission becomes the pitch instead of quality advice and guidance, the inexperienced and/or desperate agents take over-priced listings from unrealistic sellers. As these listings expire without selling, the serious sellers call the professionals with a real value proposition.
You’ve heard the sayings:
“4/5 agents won’t be in the business in 5 years.”
“10% of the agents make 90% of the money.”
The Windsor Star referenced Statistics Canada and stated that the Windsor-Essex Region CMA had an approximate population of 468,000 at the end of 2023; let’s assume it’s 500,000 now. WECAR reported our current # of brokers, brokers of record and salespeople at the end of January 2026 to total 1,628.
Our ratio is not as crazy as the GTA’s, but 1 in 307 people in Windsor-Essex County have a real estate license, and that’s still very high, especially in a market where prices have declined from the 2022 high, and the number of sales are the lowest we’ve seen since 2012.
With approx. 5,000 transactions in Windsor-Essex in 2025 and 1,628 agents, that’s approximately 3 homes sold per agent, right in line with the Canadian average.
There will likely be an exodus of agents from the Canadian industry over the next 2 years.
How do you make sure to be in the top 10-20% of sales volume? How do you make sure to be one of the 1 in 5 renewing their license in 5 years?
- Know your value prop
- Know the market and stats
- Focus on the $$$ producing activities
- Master your listing presentation… (a CMA is not a listing presentation!)
- Utilize tools, systems and custom resources for meetings, marketing, staying in touch, and asking for referrals!
If this all sounds daunting or overwhelming, it doesn’t need to be… there’s a local brokerage with a global referral network that makes all of this easy for their agents (HINT: we are talking about us!)
Cody Kraus
Broker | Owner
c: 519.322.7105
e: cody.kraus@century21.ca
