Sometimes when I find myself awake at 3am I’ll start working through emails that are sitting in the non-urgent queue. If I’m honest I thought it might put me back to sleep, but I ended up engrossed in the data from the REA Annual Consumer Perception Report.
We all know the real estate profession carries a bit of a questionable reputation, but seeing these numbers in black and white was quite revealing.
What Is This Report?
Every year, the Real Estate Authority commissions a survey of real estate consumers to gain valuable insights into their perceptions of the industry, licensees, and their experiences. In this research, a 'real estate consumer' is defined as someone who bought, sold, put in an offer, or received an offer on a property in the preceding 12 months using a real estate agent.
This is the first year I have pulled this apart and the report contains some eye-opening statistics that tell us exactly how we can be better licensees, avoid potential issues, and build more trust with our clients. At a time when everyone's talking about AI and how technology can transform real estate, I think this highlights that many of us still need to nail the basics first.
These results really hit home why our mission statement is "To inspire real estate professionals to operate with a care factor of 10/10!"
Now, it's not all doom and gloom - there are indicators of improvement throughout the full report, which is encouraging. But as the service providers, are we happy with these stats?
Let me break down a few that really stood out to me…
1. How Would Your Clients Rate Your Performance?
Consumers were asked to rate their agent from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) in terms of various performance measures.
Here's the percentage who rated their agent as '4 very good' or '5 excellent':
Professionalism - 61%
Knowledgeable about relevant legal requirements - 55%
Knowledgeable about the property - 55%
Knowledgeable about the market - 54%
Acting ethically, honestly and openly - 53%
Clearly explaining the process - 53%
Provided all the information - 52%
What makes these numbers particularly meaningful, is that this survey is completely anonymous. The consumer knows this isn't landing directly in the agent's inbox. This is different from your testimonials or NPS scores.
This is what our clients are saying when the deal is done and we're not in the room.
We all know the complexity of real estate transactions. There are at least two sides to every story, and it's not easy to keep an aggrieved buyer happy. But, is only 55% of us having very good to excellent knowledge about the property good enough? Is it okay that only 53% of us are rated highly on acting ethically, honestly and openly? Why is it that only 52% of us are very good at providing all the information?
These aren't impossible standards - they're the basics of our profession.
2. What's the Likelihood of Your Clients Recommending You?
Do you think more than 30% of your clients would highly recommend you?
Only three in ten (30%) scored their agent a 9 or 10 (extremely likely) when asked how likely they are to recommend the real estate agent from their last transaction. Another 34% scored them a 7 or 8, while 37% scored them 6 or lower (not at all likely).
When asked what the real estate agent would need to do differently or improve on for consumers to be more likely to recommend them, the answers were telling.
The top 5 reasons your clients are NOT recommending you:
Be more open and transparent - 16%
Better interpersonal skills, more friendly, approachable - 9%
Better communication - 9%
Better service, be more helpful, supportive - 8%
Have more knowledge of the properties - 7%
The top 5 reasons your clients ARE recommending you:
Their knowledge and experience - 34%
Their professionalism - 26%
Their manner, friendly, reassuring, understanding - 25%
Their openness, honesty, integrity - 17%
They made the process easy and hassle-free - 14%
This tells us exactly what we need to do more of to gain more recommendations, which equals more business. I've always believed it's not hard to do your job well - stick to basic human values and provide the service you would want to receive yourself if you weren't in the industry.
3. Do You Think Your Clients Have Ever Had an Issue With Your Conduct?
One in five consumers experienced an issue with their real estate agent's conduct.
Let that sink in for a moment. Is this an acceptable level?
What's particularly interesting is the stage in the transaction process that these conduct issues occur. We might assume most complaints come from buyers who missed out, but here's the breakdown:
Bought a property - 21%
Sold a property - 14%
Put in offer but didn't buy - 19%
Received an offer but not sold - 37%
Listed property but not sold - 16%
That 37% figure for consumers who received an offer but didn't sell is significant. This suggests we might be dropping the ball when deals get tough or don't go as planned - perhaps around communication during negotiations, transparency about offers, or how we handle disappointment when transactions fall through.
What Does This All Mean?
This data opens up a lot of provocative dialogue and opportunities for self-reflection. And more importantly, why are these results what they are?
While the REA continues to promote valuable resources like Settled.govt.nz, CPD topics designed to support licensee skills, and promote the consumer guides, the real question is: what more can each of us do to help lift conduct and confidence in the real estate profession?
The answer lies in personal responsibility. Each of us holds the power to shift these statistics - not through grand gestures or expensive technology, but through the daily commitment to excellence in the fundamentals. Better communication. Greater transparency. Deeper knowledge of our properties. Genuine care for our clients' experiences.
Again, this reinforces what we’re all about at Real Estate Structure - helping real estate professionals strengthen their foundations, build better systems, and operate with that 10/10 care factor that consumers are telling us they want.
The roadmap is right here in this data. All we need to do is follow it.
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By no means does this tell the full story - I've only discussed topics from 5 pages of an 84 page document. I encourage you to delve into this further and read the full report:
REA Annual Consumer Perceptions Research Report 2025
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What stood out to you in these statistics? Why do you think the results are what they are?
I'd love to hear your thoughts - get in touch.