Back-to-back departures of its top leaders has Keller Williams NYC’s midtown office without a captain at the helm of its ship. Founder Ilan Bracha told Inman that the brokerage remains continually profitable and one of the largest and most successful in the city, dispelling rumors it is following Town Residential down the path toward shutting down.
“While we acknowledge management and other changes have affected areas of our business, including the agent count, strategic decisions were made by our board of directors to ensure continued profitability in a shifting market,” Bracha told Inman in a statement.
“We share a continued commitment to the KW culture and network of 180,000 agents globally. This digital network allows our sellers more exposure and connects our agents daily with referrals.”
A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the specifics of those strategic decisions, but The Real Deal reported mass layoffs as well as restructuring of its management team. Interim team leader Josiah Hyatt announced last week that he was leaving to start his own firm, and CEO Lezley Charles was fired from the same position earlier this year, according to the The Real Deal.
The Real Deal also reported the agent count at Keller Williams NYC’s two offices fell from 820 to 465 but a spokesperson for the company said The Real Deal’s reporting is wrong and the agent count stands at just under 700, which is still a decrease.
In 2017, according to a survey by real estate data company T3 Sixty, Keller Williams NYC closed $959 million in sales volume and 871 transaction sides and had 948 agents at its two offices.
Keller Williams is the largest franchisor in the country currently, with more than $300 billion in sales volume. Darryl Frost, a spokesperson for Keller Williams, told Inman that it’s continuing to work with Keller Williams NYC as an independently owned and operated franchise.
“As we do with all our market centers we continue to work with all our independently owned and operated franchises in the New York region and all across the US on growth opportunities,” Frost said.
The ultra-competitive New York City marketplace, as well as newcomers like Compass growing in the market has made things difficult for some more traditional New York City brokerages. Last month, Town Residential announced it was shutting down its resale and leasing operations, shedding 400 agents in the process.
