Leaders of the nation’s biggest brokerages have warned for some time there could be some consolidation in the industry. And it looks like that’s already been happening, as more market share is flowing to the top.
Stefan Swanepoel | Photo credit: T3 Sixty
The Mega 1000, a ranking of the real estate industry’s top brokerages published by T3 Sixty, revealed Thursday that the nation’s top 1000 brokerages by sales volume accounted for 48.9 percent of all existing-home sales volume, an increase of 1.4 percent from 2018 and 8.9 percent from 2017. Transaction sides followed a similar trajectory.
“COVID-19 will undeniably have an impact on Mega 2021 numbers but the industry overall remains strong,” Stefan Swanepoel, CEO of T3 Sixty, the publisher of the Mega 1000 and The Real Estate Almanac, said in a statement. “The leading companies are all still financially well-positioned to come out of the stay-at-home period strong and expect a great third quarter.”
Realogy Brokerage Group — which encompasses company-owned brokerage brands, including Sotheby’s International Realty, Coldwell Banker, and Corcoran Group — was once again at the top of the list, closing $170 billion in sales volume. Trailing behind Realogy Brokerage Group was HomeServices of America — which actually closed slightly more transactions overall in 2019 — at $132 billion.
The top two brokerages closed more in sales volume than number three through 15 on the list, combined.
Compass — which was the number three brokerage on the list, closing $91 billion — saw the biggest year-over-year increase in sales volume, a 100.4 percent jump. EXp Realty closed $36 billion in sales volume, good for fourth place on the list and the second-biggest increase of 82.6 percent.
Keller Williams brokerages led the way for franchisee representation on the list, with 32 percent of the brokerages being Keller Williams franchisees. RE/MAX was the only other franchisor to have double-digit representation, with 17.4 percent of the top 1000 brokerages.
Indie brokerage accounted for 20.7 percent of brokerages in the top 1,000.
Michele Conn, T3 Sixty’s senior vice president, and lead for the Mega 1000 research, boasted in a statement that T3 Sixty’s ranking is more comprehensive than others because it even includes brokerages that don’t wish to participate.
“The Mega 1000 is the most comprehensive industry analysis and thorough ranking of real estate brokerages, franchise and independent brokerages in the nation,” Conn said.
“All other surveys actually miss dozens of companies in their rankings,” Conn added. “Looking at data that excludes companies simply because they do not wish to participate in a survey leads to incomplete, misleading lists.”
Last year, Steve Murray, the president of RealTrends, published a public blog post on the Real Trends website in April, criticizing “another firm” over its rankings. In response, T3 Sixty hit Real Trends with a cease and desist letter.
The real estate brokerage ranking is the fifth piece of T3 Sixty’s Real Estate Almanac, a compilation of the company’s research, which includes: the SP200, a ranking of the nation’s most powerful leaders; a ranking of the nation’s largest MLSs and Realtor associations; the Tech 500, a guide to the nation’s leading technology vendors; a ranking of the nation’s largest franchisors and holding companies; and the Mega 1000, a ranking of the nation’s 1,000 largest brokerages.
See the top 10 brokerages by sales volume below, with the number to the left of the brokerage name indicating where it ranked by agent count. And see the full list here.
A ranking of the top 10 brokerages by sale volume. | Credit: T3 Sixty
