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Have you noticed how easy it is to find real estate statistics these days? Everyone wants to talk about what's up and what's down and what it all means. For example, we hear that construction permits are way down and the supply of homes is way up – and that sounds like bad news. But in this case, builders are slowing production to reduce supply, which is actually good news. It's gotten hard to tell which way is up!

We also hear that home sales have fallen – new homes sales figures for August were revised down sharply and it looks like sales are at a 12 year low. Sounds like bad news for those looking to survive in real estate, doesn't it? To answer this question – and see if it really is a good time to be selling new homes – we took a look at some stats. Even though new home sales are at a 12 year low, the homes of today are still selling for significantly more money than those homes from 12 years ago. How does this disparity affect sales revenue and ultimately gross commission income?

Using U.S. Census Bureau statistics spanning from January 1973 to September 2007, we calculated the total monthly sales revenue based on the number of homes sold and the average monthly sales price (you can download the entire table by clicking here). The chart below compares the revised figures for August 2007 to years past.
 

	Homes Sold	Average Sale Price	Total Sales Revenue (monthly)
August 2007	63,000	$297,000	$18,711,000,000.00
August 2006	88,000	$317,300	$27,922,400,000.00
August 2005	110,000	$295,000	$32,450,000,000.00
August 2004	102,000	$272,200	$27,764,400,000.00
August 2003	105,000	$241,000	$25,305,000,000.00
August 2002	90,000	$221,300	$19,917,000,000.00
August 2001	74,000	$207,500	$15,355,000,000.00
August 2000	73,000	$200,200	$14,614,600,000.00
August 1999	78,000	$193,100	$15,061,800,000.00
August 1998	75,000	$186,500	$13,987,500,000.00
August 1997	72,000	$170,700	$12,290,400,000.00
August 1996	73,000	$159,700	$11,658,100,000.00
August 1995	63,000	$162,000	$10,206,000,000.00
August 1994	59,000	$154,900	$9,139,100,000.00

Several things are immediately apparent with this chart. We have just come off of some of the most prosperous years in history for those selling new homes. But this didn't necessarily turn into additional income for real estate agents. During the boom periods we've had the past couple of years, it may have been hard to find builders willing to pay commissions – so a higher sales volume did not necessarily turn into congruently higher commission levels for those real estate agents in new homes sales. Buyers were lining up and spending the night outside of brand new communities. Even if you had a willing and able buyer and a builder willing to pay a commission, you still may not have found an available home. Builders also felt that they didn't need help from real estate agents with sales and marketing…it was "build it and they will come."

We all know that things have changed for many markets. Today, more builders are recognizing the importance of working with the real estate community and are willing to pay good money for that help. As a result, we've heard of co-broke commissions in some areas of the country exceeding 10% - some of the highest in history.

While sales for new homes are at a 12 year low, it's also apparent from the chart above that the total monthly sales revenue for new homes is only at a 6 year low. If you take away the record boom years, you're left with total monthly sales revenue that is still at the highest level in history.

Obviously, one way to increase your gross commission income is to increase the percentage of commission you earn on a sale. Now is a record time for co-broke commissions. Had you focused on new home sales from 2002 until 2006, you may have had a slightly higher sales volume, but a significantly reduced GCI due to lower co-broke commissions! Through the rest of 2007 and through 2008, you can combine record high co-broke commissions with a sales volume that is still at record levels pre-2002.

Granted home prices and sales may still have some more room to fall, but it still sounds like an opportunity to us. So while we're discussing what' up and down, let's not forget that co-broke commissions are up on new homes, which could prevent your GCI from going down.