What Is the NAR?

Understanding the NAR
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National Association of Realtors (NAR): What It Is and How It Works

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia.

Suzanne is a content marketer, writer, and fact-checker. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from Bridgewater State University and helps develop content strategies.

What Is the National Association of Realtors (NAR)?

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is a national organization of real estate brokers, known as realtors, created to promote the real estate profession and foster professional behavior in its members. The association has its own code of ethics to which it requires its members to adhere.

As of 2021, the NAR has over one million members worldwide. It has 54 state associations (including D.C., Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico) as well as more than 1,600 national and international affiliate organizations.

- The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is the professional organization for real estate agents and other industry professionals in the U.S. and abroad.
- Members, known as realtors, have access to a variety of benefits and tools designed to enhance their real estate businesses.
- The organization also works to protect private property rights, promote home ownership, and lobbies to maintain reasonable credit and other standards at the federal level.
Understanding the National Association of Realtors (NAR)

The NAR’s membership increased to just under 1.4 million. It claims to be the largest trade association, comprising real estate brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, counselors as well as others in the real estate industry. Members belong to one or more of the 1,200 local associations/boards and 54 state and territory associations of Realtors or to one of 87 cooperating associations in 66 countries.

The NAR was founded as the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges in May 1908, with 120 members, 19 Boards (local associations) and one state association. Its objective was to standardize real estate practices and to “unite the real estate men of America for the purpose of effectively exerting a combined influence upon matters affecting real estate interests.” The NAR Code of Ethics was adopted in 1913.

Over the years, the association’s name changed several times until, in 1972, it became the National Association of Realtors. Today, its mission is “to help its members become more profitable and successful,” by “influencing and shaping the real estate industry”