Chris Heller
Keller Williams CEO Chris Heller says there are two things that the company stays laser-focused on every day: its innovative technology efforts, and its bottom line.
And he’s pleased with the latest year-end financial results, which indicate success on both fronts.
Agents closed 238,056 transactions in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2016, up 17.1 percent over Q4 2015.
Total sales volume closed was $67.1 billion, up 22.2 percent from Q4 2015, and Keller Williams shelled out $32.4 million in profit share, up 27.1 percent from Q4 2015.
For year-end results encompassing all of 2016, the company reported:
- 154,979 global associates, up 15.1 percent over 2015
- 977,603 closed units, up 15.9 percent over 2015
- $273.6 billion in sales volume, up 19.6 percent over 2015
- $179.9 million in franchise owner profit, up 16.1 percent over 2015
- $154.4 million in profit share distributed, up 18.9 percent over 2015
“The median across Keller Williams remains between seven and eight transactions per agent,” said spokesman Darryl Frost.
“Each month was a record-breaking month for us last year,” said Heller, noting that the company is able to project and track its growth throughout the year due to its fully connected reporting network.
“We get, every month, real transparency into everything that’s going on in our offices,” he said. “On a weekly basis, we get real transparency into our growth and agent count. With the growth initiative that [Keller Williams president] John Davis has created and implemented, the results are pretty predictable and duplicatable as long as people are doing the activities, so we track their activities, and they’re held accountable to those activities.”
“Our agents and local leadership teams have turned in a championship-level performance,” said Davis in a statement. “By leveraging technology, training, and tools to set big goals and focus on their most impactful activities, they’ve boosted their production, which is helping them fund their lives and create opportunities for their families.”
The company’s first quarter outlook for 2017 is a strong one — it’s based on the following key performance indicators:
- Agents took 133,992 new listings (new market inventory), up 7.5 percent over Q4 2015.
- Listings taken volume totaled $39.2 billion, up 10.7 percent over Q4 2015.
- Agents wrote 244,280 contracts (projected closings), up 14.4 percent over Q4 2015.
- Contracts written volume was $68.4 billion, up 18.5 percent over Q4 2015.