Total, 20% of the leaders surveyed handle corporations with greater than 1,000 brokers. One other 7% handle 501 to 1,000 brokers; 38% handle 101 to 500 brokers; 20% handle 21 to 100 brokers; and 15% handle 20 or fewer brokers. This was the fourth yr the corporate performed the survey.
“After 4 years of monitoring brokerage sentiment, what stands out this yr is readability,” Michael Minard, the CEO and proprietor of Delta Media, mentioned in a press release. “Leaders are not guessing concerning the market. They know the place progress can come from, and so they know what threatens it.”
Delta Media Group is a expertise companion for greater than 80 LeadingRE associates and greater than 50 top-ranked brokerages nationwide.
Regardless of challenges like continued margin strain and housing inventory constraints, the report mentioned that brokerage leaders stay optimistic, including that the 2026 outcomes mark a shift from the uncertainty recorded in earlier years.
“The 2026 outlook exhibits confidence has not light. It has hardened,” Minard mentioned. “Brokerage leaders now anticipate progress whereas staying targeted on pricing strain, margins, and execution.”
In response to the survey outcomes, most brokerage leaders (59%) anticipate the U.S. financial system to enhance over the following 12 months, in comparison with 21% who anticipate it to deteriorate and 20% who anticipate it to remain the identical. The report added that brokers stay most assured of their native financial system, adopted by their state and nationwide economies.
Reflecting this total optimism, the vast majority of brokers (62%) anticipate housing demand to enhance in 2026. Only one-third mentioned they anticipate demand to stay regular, whereas 5% anticipate a decline. Moreover, 85% of leaders surveyed anticipate profitability to extend in 2026, in comparison with 63% in 2025 and simply 18% in 2023.
“These outcomes stand in sharp distinction to 2023, when greater than half of leaders anticipated profitability to say no,” Minard mentioned. “The shift displays years of adjustment in staffing, bills, and expertise selections.”
Along with profitability, the overwhelming majority (82%) of leaders additionally anticipate transaction sides to rise in 2026, whereas 66% anticipate that their agency will acquire market share over the following yr.
Whereas brokers could also be extra optimistic, they’re nonetheless dealing with many challenges. A few of the commonest challenges cited embrace recruiting high brokers (63%), agent productiveness (54%), recruiting youthful brokers (48%), lowered revenue margins (41%) and housing stock (40%).
Moreover, with regards to expertise adoption, leaders reported that agent utilization, coaching and return on funding are ongoing hurdles as they appear to raised combine and make the most of AI tools in every day brokerage operations.
“AI is not a future idea,” Minard mentioned. “We all know from the discharge of our AI Survey that 97% of brokerage leaders say their brokers are utilizing AI. AI use in actual property is ubiquitous. The main target has shifted to construction and technique.”
