California Real Estate Licensing Statistics

From July 2017 to March 2018, there were 40,173 exams administered, but only 17,792 people passed the California real estate exam and became a licensed salesperson, according to Bureau of Real Estate Forum May 4, 2018 Presentation in Sacramento.

These Bureau of Real Estate figures also shows 38,868 California Real Estate Salesperson Licensees renewed their license, which is 81% renewal rate. 22,108 California Real Estate Broker licensees renewed their license.

At the 2007 peak of California’s real estate boom, 549,250 people had a California Real Estate License. After the market crashed, the numbers dropped to 402,758 California Real Estate Licensees in 2014. Since then the number of Real Estate Licensees continued to increase. There were a total of 419,346 California Real Estate Licensees in March 2018.

The Return of the “Department of Real Estate”

On October 15, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 173. The bill, written by Senator Bill Dodd and sponsored by the California Association of Realtors, was widely endorsed by industry groups and received unanimous affirmative votes in the CA State Senate and the State Assembly. Under the terms of the bill, the effective date of the new Department – with a wind-down of the bureau and separation from the Department of Consumer Affairs – will be July 1, 2018. So whether one calls the “Department” called for by the new law as a “restoration” or “re-establishment” of the prior Department of Real Estate (DRE), which ceased to exist in 2013, or a “regenerated” department arising from the end of the bureau, the DRE will be up and running again.

Following the Governor’s signature on the bill, CalBRE have received a number of inquiries as to whether business cards and marketing materials will need to have the initials or acronym “DRE” accompany a licensee’s license number.

“From our perspective, it is fine if any of the following initials/acronyms accompany a license number: DRE, BRE, or CalBRE. The statutes only refer to the need for a license number. And that is really our only focus. And if a licensee elected to have signage or a card that stated “RE Lic #” or something like that, that would always be appropriate. But DRE, BRE, or CalBRE are all fine as well.” wrote, Wayne S. Bell, Commissioner of CalBRE.