Insurance and property

How to become a real estate agent

Official title: Real estate agent

Real estate agents arrange property and house sales for clients. They may advise about the property market, mortgages and legal requirements.

Main tasks

Arrange property and house sales
Find out what buyers are looking for
Contact potential buyers and sellers
Find out property details
Estimate what properties are worth
Negotiate property prices and terms
Prepare property sale agreements
Coordinate legal steps and deadlines

How to become one

You need experience and a qualification to become a real estate agent. You need NCEA Level 2 to do the study or training for this job. Required: 3 years' supervised experience at a licensed real estate agency; a New Zealand Certificate in Real Estate (Level 6) OR a New Zealand Certificate in Real Estate (Agent) (Level 6) OR a bachelor's degree recognised by the Real Estate Authority; a current agent's licence from the Real Estate Authority; to be 18 years old; to pass a police check; to be a fit and proper person. Other requirements: a driver licence. Registration body: Real Estate Authority.

See the full Tahatū profile

Ways in

Certificates and diplomas: Intermediate certificates in real estate. TEC links this job to study in sales and marketing. Qualifications: NZ Cert in Real Estate (Salesperson). Usually 5 months. Graduates of these qualifications earn a median $54,000 a year one year after study and $73,000 five years after; 69% are employed one year after (TEC, from Stats NZ IDI data).
Registration or licence: 3 years' supervised experience at a licensed real estate agency; a current agent's licence from the Real Estate Authority. Registration body: Real Estate Authority (https://www.rea.govt.nz).

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

Most common pay: $66,000 to $190,000 a year (median $111,000), a TEC estimate before tax.
Upper: $328,000 a year
TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
People employed in the group Real Estate Sales Agents: 19,014 at the 2018 Census and 20,409 at the 2023 Census (+7.3%). Past change, not a forecast.
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

About 4,500 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
In the group Real Estate Sales Agents, 48% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
Where people in the group Real Estate Sales Agents work (2023 Census): Auckland 40%, Canterbury 12.5%, and Wellington 10.1%.

Questions people ask

How do I become a real estate agent?

How much does a real estate agent earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $111,000 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $66,000 to $190,000 a year.

Will AI change the work of a real estate agent?

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

Sources

Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census totals by topic for individuals 2013, 2018, 2023 (CEN23_TBT_004): employed by occupation, ANZSCO V1.3, summed to unit group (2023 Census (CEN23_TBT_004)), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), 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

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026