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Sales and Related · Holland code ECS

Real Estate Brokers

Operate real estate office, or work for commercial real estate firm, overseeing real estate transactions. Other duties usually include selling real estate or renting properties and arranging loans.

Also called: Broker, Broker Associate, Managing Broker, Realtor, Commercial Leasing Broker, Commercial Real Estate Advisor, Commercial Real Estate Broker, Designated Broker.

O*NET 41-9021.00

At a glance

US median annual pay
$73,220
Middle half earn $46,480 to $103,360. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Preparation needed
Job Zone 4 of 5
Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

  • Obtain agreements from property owners to place properties for sale with real estate firms.
  • Sell, for a fee, real estate owned by others.
  • Compare a property with similar properties that have recently sold to determine its competitive market price.
  • Act as an intermediary in negotiations between buyers and sellers over property prices and settlement details and during the closing of sales.
  • Generate lists of properties for sale, their locations, descriptions, and available financing options, using computers.
  • Maintain knowledge of real estate law, local economies, fair housing laws, types of available mortgages, financing options, and government programs.
  • Rent properties or manage rental properties.
  • Monitor fulfillment of purchase contract terms to ensure that they are handled in a timely manner.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

  • Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
  • Active Listening4.0 / 5
  • Speaking4.0 / 5
  • Active Learning4.0 / 5
  • Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
  • Writing3.4 / 5

Knowledge areas

  • Sales and Marketing4.8 / 5
  • English Language4.1 / 5
  • Economics and Accounting4.0 / 5
  • Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
  • Administration and Management3.8 / 5
  • Mathematics3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

  • Realistic28
  • Investigative9
  • Artistic0
  • Social32
  • Enterprising91
  • Conventional79

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

  • property developer · DE Bauunternehmer/Bauunternehmerin · FR directeur de développement immobilier/directrice de développement immobilier
  • securities broker · DE Wertpapiermakler/Wertpapiermaklerin · FR négociateur en valeurs mobilières/négociatrice en valeurs mobilières
  • property acquisitions manager · DE Immobilienhändler/Immobilienhändlerin · FR directeur de l’acquisition de biens immobiliers/directrice de l’acquisition de biens immobiliers
  • real estate agent · DE Immobilienmakler/Immobilienmaklerin · FR agent immobilier/agente immobilier
  • letting agent · DE Vermietungsmakler/Vermietungsmaklerin · FR agent de location immobilière/agente de location immobilière
  • real estate investor · DE Immobilieninvestor/Immobilieninvestorin · FR monteur d’opérations immobilières/monteuse d’opérations immobilières

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

  • Estate agents and auctioneers (3555)52,700 employed
  • Pensions and insurance clerks and assistants (4132)65,200 employed
  • Production managers and directors in construction (1122)167,400 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
CountryMedian pay
Belgium€50,992
Austria€46,986
Germany€44,473
Netherlands€42,448
Ireland€41,613
Sweden€41,155
Italy€34,882
France€34,816
Spain€29,757
Portugal€18,080
Poland€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.15. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (41-9021).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test

Occupation data: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Values were rounded, tasks limited to the most important eight, and combined with the sources named in each section; O*NET has not reviewed or endorsed this adaptation. Pay and outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. International titles: ESCO, European Commission. UK classification and employment: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence.