How to become a Real Estate Sales Agent

Also called: Real estate company salesperson, Property sales agent, New home sales agent, Apartment sales agent, Land acquisition agent

Deals with customers who want to buy, sell or rent homes and land, meeting their needs and closing the deal.

Main tasks

• Serving customers who visit the office
• Listening to and noting what customers want and finding properties that match
• Taking customers to see properties, explaining them and discussing sale or rental terms
• Answering customers' questions about property deals
• Explaining contracts to customers
• Drawing up rental agreements and collecting bonds and rent
• Drawing up property sale contracts
• Preparing and managing documents such as key information statements and property valuations
• Checking and researching key information on site and at government offices
• Explaining key information to customers as a real estate transaction agent
• Renewing rental agreements
• Giving property information to businesses looking for premises
• Listening to landowners' wishes and introducing businesses that suit their terms
• Handling customer complaints
• Finding undeveloped building land and working towards a sale contract
• Organising and keeping lists of available rental properties
• Checking land registry records to confirm that customers own their property
• Photographing the outside and inside of properties
• Posting property information online
• Reviewing rental terms in light of supply and demand
• Contacting utility companies so customers' properties are connected to services
• Inspecting the condition of land and buildings and arranging maintenance or telling the owner
• Taking orders from clients to build custom homes
• Reading relevant publications and going to industry meetings to keep up with the property market

Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

No particular education or qualifications are needed to start. Gaining the real estate transaction agent (takken shi) qualification is an advantage in the job (each office must have at least one full-time agent for every five staff). Anyone can sit the exam, but you need knowledge of the laws on land and buildings, tax law and practical matters. It is important to give customers accurate information, so you need the drive and ability to keep learning what you need to know.

Ways in

• National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 宅地建物取引士. English name and classification by Peernovo.

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

• Average annual income: ¥6,607,000 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
• Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥353,400, and the middle half earn ¥282,000 to ¥465,700 a month.
• Pay measured for the wage survey group: Other sales workers
• 2.16 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

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Questions people ask

How do I become a Real Estate Sales Agent?

No particular education or qualifications are needed to start. Gaining the real estate transaction agent (takken shi) qualification is an advantage in the job (each office must have at least one full-time agent for every five staff). Anyone can sit the exam, but you need knowledge of the laws on land and buildings, tax law and practical matters. It is important to give customers accurate information, so you need the drive and ability to keep learning what you need to know.

How much does a Real Estate Sales Agent earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥6,607,000 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Other sales workers, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Real Estate Sales Agent?

Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 57% of workers are university graduates.

Will AI change the work of a Real Estate Sales Agent?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026