Part 3/18:
Internal memos and exit surveys paint a bleak picture: many agents are citing rising dues, shrinking commissions, and unsustainable costs as reasons for departure. Monthly agent counts have fallen by double digits in some offices—losing as much as a third of their workforce within a year. This ripple effect causes deal flow to dry up, revenues to collapse, and layoffs or lease cancellations to become recurrent. While official data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) and Real Estate Council of Ontario (RICO) has yet to confirm precise city-specific headcount drops, anecdotal evidence and industry chatter suggest the trend is worsened in Toronto, positioning the city at the epicenter of this collapse.