Modern
brokerage
competition

In
2025,
the
top-100
residential
real
estate
brands
in
the
country,
which
collect
for
$2.33
trillion
in
sales
volume
or
roughly
59%
of
the
nationwide
transaction
volume
in
2025,
recorded
a
1.9:1
recruit-to-loss
ratio
in
2025,
with
229,316
agents
joining
and
122,016
agents
leaving.

While
this
might
seem
like
a
win
from
an
agent
count
perspective,
Soderstrom
said
things
look
a
bit
different
when
you
consider
how
this
movement
impacts
sales
volume.
According
to
the
study,
the
top
100
brands
recruited
$276
billion
in
2025,
but
they
lost
$233
billion
in
sales
volume.

This
means
that
while
they
may
have
recruited
nearly
two
agents
for
every
agent
lost,
they
only
recorded
a
$42
billion
net
positive
sales
volume
increase,
or
just
1.8%
net
volume
growth. 

“This
is
the
defining
dynamic
of
modern
brokerage
competition:
enormous
gross
churn
producing
minimal
net
expansion,”
Soderstrom
said.

The
brands
on
top

Of
these
top
100
brands,
Courted
found:

• 
  
  SERHANT.
  was
  the
  biggest
  winner
  when
  it
  came
  to
  the
  share
  of
  net
  volume
  gain,
  as
  its
  net
  volume
  rose
  279%
  in
  2025.
• 
  The
  Real
  Brokerage
  recorded
  the
  largest
  jump
  of
  dollar
  amount
  of
  net
  sale
  volume
  gained
  at
  $12.5
  billion
  in
  2025.
• 
  Keller
  Williams,
  despite
  recruiting
  the
  most
  agents
  in
  2025
  at
  over
  46,000
  who
  represented
  $42.9
  billion
  in
  sales
  volume,
  recorded
  the
  largest
  net
  sales
  volume
  loss
  in
  2025
  losing
  $7.4
  billion.

These
challenges
come
in
part
due
to
81
of
the
top-100
brands
recruiting
agents
with
lower
sales
volume
production
than
the
agents
they
are
losing,
with
only
16
brands
“trading
up”
in
agent
quality.
Of
these
top-100
brands,
the
study
found
that
on
average
they
lose
agents
46%
more
productive
than
those
they
recruited. 

“On
average,
outgoing
agents
produced
$2.11
million
per
year,
while
incoming
agents
averaged
$1.44
million
–
a
46%
productivity
gap.
Many
brands
are
winning
the
headcount
battle
but
quietly
losing
the
economics.
Growth
in
agent
count
does
not
equal
growth
in
enterprise
value,”
Soderstrom
said.

Quality
of
agents

Despite
these
challenges,
Courted
said
some
brands
had
a
strong
year
when
it
comes
to
the
quality
of
agents
they
recruited
in
2025.
According
to
the
study,
SERHANT.
recruited
$6.22
billion
in
sales
volume
in
2025,
gaining
most
of
these
agents
from
brands
like
Keller
Williams,

Douglas
Elliman
and

Long
&
Foster.

The
Real
Brokerage
also
had
a
strong
year,
recruiting
38%,
or
$22.4
billion,
of
its
total
annual
sales
volume
production
in
2025.
Additionally,
the
study
found
that
the
average
production
of
agents
joining
Real
was
45%
higher
than
the
average
of
the
agents
recruited
by
the
top-10
brands. 

Like
Real,


LPT
Realty
also
recorded
nearly
two-fifths
(39%
or
$8.6
billion)
of
its
total
sales
volume
in
2025,
after
recruiting
over
6,600
agents
in
2025. 

In
comparison
to
these
brands,

Compass,
which
closed
its

acquisition
of

@properties
Christie’s
International
Real
Estate
in
2025,
saw
just
26%
or
$57
billion
of
its
2025
sales
volume
production
come
from
agent
recruitment
in
2025. 

Best
retention

While
they
didn’t
top
the
list
for
recruitment,
the
three
brands
that
recorded
the
best
retention
in
2025
were


Howard
Hanna,


Samson
Properties
and

Cummings
&
Co.,
which
lost
only
5%,
4%
and
2%
of
their
sales
volume
in
2025,
respectively.
The
report
noted
that
in
general,
while
some
cloud-based
national
brokerages
saw
significant
recruitment
growth
in
2025,
when
it
comes
to
retention,
the
top-performing
brands
were
regional
companies
with
robust
office
footprints. 

“Virtual
and
tech-enabled
brokerages
averaged
+11.6%
net
volume
growth,
more
than
four
times
the
+1.8%
net
growth
across
the
top
100.
These
models
are
winning
on
velocity,”
Soderstrom
said.
“But
they’re
also
experiencing
the
highest
turnover,
which
means
the
real
question
isn’t
just
growth
–
it’s
durability.”

Additionally,
while
it
is
not
ideal
for
a
brand
to
lose
agents
who
are
more
productive
than
the
ones
it
is
recruiting,
Soderstrom
says
there
is
a
silver
lining. 

“Given
the
expectation
of
higher
splits
for
top
agents,
these
agents
tend
to
have
individual
profit
margins
below
the
average
of
the
brokerage,
thereby
contributing
downward
pressure
on
overall
margin
percentage,”
Soderstrom
wrote
in
the
report. 

Due
to
this,
mid-level
producers
tend
to
be
the
most
profitable
for
a
brokerage,
meaning
that
if
a
brand
trades
one
top-producer
for
two
mid-level
producers,
it
may
be
better
off
from
a
profit
standpoint. 

“The
good
news
for
brokerages
is
these
agents
represent
the
bulk
of
the
volume
movement
each
year,”
he
wrote. 

Looking
ahead,
the
report
states
that
given
the

current
brokerage
consolidation
environment,
acquisitions
will
be
a
key
driver
to
agent
count
and
sales
volume
production
growth
in
2026. 

“The
brokerages
that
win
over
the
next
cycle
will
measure
net
recruited
profit
per
agent,
not
just
recruited
volume,”
Soderstrom
said.
“The
scoreboard
is
shifting
from
who
recruits
the
most
to
who
converts
recruiting
into
compounding
EBITDA.
A
focus
on
commission
design
innovation
and
measurement
of
agent-level
EBITDA
is
critical.”