HomeServices Of America Once Again Tops Real Trends 500

The Berkshire Hathaway company had the most transaction sides in 2020, though Realogy Brokerage Group did the most volume. Several newer tech-focused companies also had good showings.

HomeServices of America, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, continued its multi-year winning streak Thursday when it claimed the coveted top spot for transaction sides on the RealTrends 500 list.

The company scored the winning place on the list — a prestigious ranking of real estate firms across the U.S. — by closing 343,220 transaction sides in 2020. That’s an increase of 4.1 percent compared to one year prior. This marks the third straight year that HomeServices of America topped the list.

Prior to HomeServices reign at the top of the list, Realogy’s NRT — now renamed Realogy Brokerage Group — had held the top spot for decades.

Realogy Brokerage Group did land the number two spot this year, with 333,737 sides. It was followed by eXp Realty with 238,981 sides, Compass with 144,784 sides and Howard Hanna parent Hanna Holdings/Allen Tate with 105,455 sides.

Redfin nabbed the sixth place spot by doing 64,420 sides.

RealTrends also ranks real estate companies by size, which it uses sales volume to measure. By that metric, Realogy Brokerage Group actually came out on top by doing roughly $184.6 billion in volume in 2020, up 8.5 percent year-over-year.

One of the biggest surprises of this years list was that by sales volume, Compass actually dethroned HomeServices of America in the number two spot by doing $151.7 billion in volume. That represents an incredible 66.2 percent increase year over year.

HomeServices of American held onto third place, doing $150.4 billion. It was followed by eXp Realty at $72.2 billion and Redfin at $37 billion. In eXp Realty’s case, its volume jumped an astonishing 99.3 percent year over year.

Another notable company on the list is Chicago-based @properties, which was founded in 2000 and has a habit of leaning into technology. The company landed the number eight spot for volume, which increased 52.1 percent last year, and the number nine spot for transaction sides, which jumped 52 percent.

The cluster of younger, tech-focused brokerages at the top of the list highlights how much change the industry has seen in recent years, and how successful disruptive business models have been. Redfin, for example, employs its own agents while eXp Realty uses a comparatively nimble all-virtual strategy. Though there are some exceptions, these newer and more tech-centric companies saw more growth than a number of more established names.

Here are the top 10 RealTrends 500 companies by transaction sides: