Zillow CEO Rich Barton topped the SP 200, a list compiled by T3 Sixty, of the most powerful people in real estate, for the second consecutive year. Barton’s placement at the top comes at a time when his company is riding the technology transformation that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic to record-setting results.
Stefan Swanepoel | Photo credit: T3 Sixty
Stefan Swanepoel, the chairman and CEO of T3 Sixty, said in a statement the 211 leaders including on the list are the ones “that stood out during 2020 as the most influential and impactful in the industry.”
“While we honor them with their inclusion on the SP 200 for 2021 we also acknowledge the tens of thousands of other leaders that also stood up and made a difference when the industry needed them,” Swanepoel said. “We salute you all.”
Following closely behind Barton is Gary Keller, the executive chairman of KWx, who despite stepping down from the role of Keller Williams CEO, still has an enormous impact on his company. Keller Williams set multiple company records this year, as the pandemic raged.
Realogy CEO Ryan Schneider, finished third on this year’s list, a year which also saw Realogy post some of its best quarterly results in company history.
Gino Blefari, the HomeServices of America CEO and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices chairman finished fourth on the list, up from last year’s 12th place finish.
Glenn Sanford, the CEO of eXp World Holdings, rode his company’s massive growth into fifth place, after placing 15th on last year’s list.
T3 Sixty starts with a list of more than 3,000 leaders, by analyzing the executive and C-suite leaders of all “large and strategically important companies in the residential real estate brokerage industry,” the company said in a press release.
The company then undertakes a mix of quantitive and qualitative assessments of each leader, looking at recent developments with the company, their tenure, their role in the organization and each individual’s power and influence in their own company as well as the greater industry.
The result is a list of 211 leaders — with some companies sharing double or triple billing for certain executives.
The SP 200, as a reflection of the real estate industry’s leadership, ranks as a whole, is largely white men. This year’s list includes 44 women, meaning women make up just 20 percent of the list, in an industry where women account for 64 percent of Realtors, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Hanna Holdings CEO Helen Hanna Casey is the highest-ranking woman on the list, coming in at No. 11.
The release of the SP 200 is the first installment of the Real Estate Almanac, which will now see five consecutive months where T3 Sixty will release a component of the annual industry compendium. In February, T3 sixty will release the ORE 200; in March it will release the Tech 500; in April, it will release its list of top holding companies, franchise brands, and public companies; and in May, the Mega 1000 brokerage ranking.
The rest of the top 10 included: Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman; Compass co-founders Ori Allon and Robert Reffkin; NAR CEO Bob Goldberg; RE/MAX CEO Adam Contos and Opendoor CEO and co-founder Eric Wu.
