95% of Real Estate Transactions Are Made Through a Real Estate Agent
Approximately 50,000 real estate purchase and sale transactions are made in Estonia annually, plus at least 50,000 residential rental transactions and tens of thousands of commercial space rental transactions. Real estate is special compared to other types of assets – real estate transaction amounts are large, real estate cannot be taken with you when moving elsewhere, real estate can have many hidden properties, and there can be many legal nuances in transaction formalization that an ordinary person may not know about.
At the same time, most people make at least one real estate transaction in their lifetime, but as a rule, it happens rarely. Therefore, it is quite difficult to take into account all circumstances when making a real estate transaction. To mitigate the risks of transaction parties and to ensure transactions are completed without errors, Estonian people quite actively use the help of either real estate brokers or real estate consultants. There are approximately 1,500 active real estate brokers in Estonia, of which 668 are registered in the Estonian Real Estate Brokers' Chamber broker registry. According to the Estonian Chamber of Professions, 197 brokers hold valid real estate broker professional certificates.
A Kinnisvara24 analysis shows that broker assistance is used in 95% of real estate transactions. Broker assistance is used most in commercial space rentals, where the broker share is 98.3%. However, it is used least in apartment rentals, where owners conduct 36.8% of transactions themselves.
"A real estate owner may have various reasons for hiring a broker. Sometimes one wants to mitigate the risks associated with the transaction, sometimes the owner does not have time to deal with all the nuances involved. On the Kinnisvara24.ee portal, adding a real estate advertisement has indeed been made extremely simple, but there are many activities before and after publishing the advertisement that require time and knowledge. For example, how to take such real estate photos that truly make your advertisement stand out from others, what price to choose, how to arrange property viewings for interested parties, and so on," commented Paavo Heil, CEO of Kinnisvara24.ee.
"The question is usually not whether to hire a broker, but rather on what basis to choose a broker. In Estonia, you can choose from approximately 1,500 brokers, most of whom are dedicated and efficiently working professionals. On the Kinnisvara24 portal, you can see information about brokers such as how many advertisements they have, in which region they work, in what language they conduct their business, whether they have a professional certificate, and their contact information. If needed, you can also verify a broker's background through the Brokers' Chamber website. It is also possible to ask a broker for recommendations from his previous clients before making a decision," Heil added.
