In a year that went from feast to famine, Power Brokers navigated an economic decline—along with the ramifications of the Federal Reserve’s ensuing response—to persevere as best possible, but not without feeling the impact. While some struggled, others seized the opportunity to gain ground. In this exclusive early release of the Top 500 Power Brokers, Premier subscribers can now see who landed where in the ranking along with five years of statistics for each firm.
The Top 500 Power Brokers
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The data for the Top 1,000 firms featured in RISMedia’s 35th Annual Power Broker Report reveal a more than $220B decrease in collective sales volume over 2021, based on over 670,000 fewer transactions.
These significant decreases in overall sales volume and transactions reflect the rollercoaster ride that was the 2022 residential real estate market. Competition intensified among the industry’s largest players in a year that started out strong, thanks to the remnants of the pandemic boom, then dropped off at year-end as the Fed focused on reeling in inflation with interest-rate hikes beginning last March.
Amidst this tumultuous economic environment, the industry’s largest brokerage operators took measures to steady the ship and stay afloat.
“There isn’t a company in the housing industry that didn’t feel the effects of the pace of change in the market in 2022,” says Anywhere Brands President & CEO Sue Yannaccone. “But for Anywhere, we were already in the midst of executing our strategy to make the transaction simpler while rearchitecting our business for the future in a way that better leverages our scale. So, when we started to see the rapid shift to a tougher market, we chose to see it as an opportunity to accelerate our efforts to structure our company for the changing needs of agents and consumers.”
Crisis for some, opportunity for others
As the market fluctuated, residential brokerage firms turned to an array of cost-cutting measures. Some also seized the opportunity to acquire and increase agent count as real estate professionals jumped ship for firms that might sustain them through the downturn. This resulted in eXp Realty surpassing longstanding leaders HomeServices of America and Anywhere Advisors (formerly Realogy) to grab the No. 1 spot in transactions. eXp’s agent-centric model led to an increase of more than 10,000 agents for the firm in 2022 versus 2021, which helped fuel its rise to the top of the transaction ranking.
“We continue to focus on creating a very agent-centric real estate brokerage model,” says eXp Realty CEO Glenn Sanford. “We did cut some costs last year because the market was slowing down quite a bit, and outside of that, it was really about continuing to figure out what agents were looking for.”
Meanwhile, Compass once again took the No. 1 spot in sales volume. During a February 28 earnings call, company CEO Robert Reffkin attributed the company’s performance in 2022 to expense management.
“We took decisive steps throughout 2022 to reduce expenses and drive operating efficiencies in the business, with a very specific goal to become free cash flow positive for 2023,” Reffkin said during the call. “We are prepared to move swiftly to implement additional cost cuts if the market turns out to be worse than expected.”
Lingering signs of the pandemic boom
While losses mounted virtually across the board, the Top 500 Power Brokers continued to witness some of the effects of 2021’s pandemic boom, such as scores of new entrants to the residential real estate field, ready to capitalize on a seemingly easy opportunity. So while collective sales volume and transactions declined in 2022, agent count continued to rise with a total increase of more than 40,000 agents among the Top 1,000 brokerage firms.
Another pandemic-era phenomenon also continued to make its mark in 2022: increasing home prices. The average home price among the Top 1,000 firms increased to $518,043 over the cohort’s 2021 average home price of $492,836.
“When mortgage rates go up, prices usually go down, but we are in a market now where there are not enough homes to sell, and that’s keeping prices high,” said Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman in an interview with RISMedia. “However, these are the moments when an agent’s true value shines. People depend on them more than ever to make adjustments and find the best path forward.”
A five-year perspective
RISMedia’s 2023 Power Broker Report is based on the results of its longstanding annual survey of the nation’s leading brokerage firms. Companies are primarily ranked according to sales volume and secondarily by transaction. In this special preview of RISMedia’s online Power Broker Directory, RISMedia Premier members can see who topped the charts in an unprecedented year, and also view five years’ worth of year-over-year statistics for the Top 500 firms.
To join RISMedia’s Premier content service and gain early access to the Top 500 Power Brokers, along with year-round high-level reporting, monthly in-depth reports and reduced pricing for RISMedia events, click here. Enter the limited-time discount code 2023POWERBROKER to receive $50 off the price of an annual subscription. The Top 1,000 firms will be available to Premier members this April.
RISMedia’s 2023 Power Broker Report is sponsored by:
