2023 was a consequential year for real estate. The market grappled with low inventory and mortgage rates that gave many homebuyers a reason to pause. According to Altos Research, 2023 inventory bottomed in April at 406,206 active listings.
Today, there are 100,000 more homes on the market than there were in March of last year — that’s 21% inventory growth. HousingWire reports that housing inventory is on pace to grow 40% in 2024, bringing the market slightly closer to a healthy equilibrium.
Each year, RealTrends Verified identifies the country’s most successful residential real estate brokerages, teams and agents – verifying transaction sides and closed sales volume for top-performing real estate brokerages — to give you the full picture of real estate performance.
eXp, Compass take top spots again
For the second year in a row, virtual brokerage eXp Realty, led by CEO Glenn Sanford, retains the No. 1 spot by transaction sides in the 2024 RealTrends 500 rankings, based on 2023 data. eXp had 355,052 sides in 2023, down from 2022 when they had 397,138.
Robert Reffkin’s Compass held on to the top spot in sales volume, ranking No. 1 for the third year in a row with a sales volume of $184B, compared to $227B last year.
The fab four: eXp Realty, Compass, Anywhere Advisors and HomeServices continue to excel in the top four spots by sides and sales volume.
The Real Brokerage proved its model is enticing for agents and teams by adding $6.8B in volume and growing its transaction sides 14,721 to a total of 48,905 in 2023. The Agency had the largest percentage growth, growing 89% in transaction sides in 2023 to a total of 11,803. The Agency also added $1.44B in volume in 2023, for a total of $12.4B.
Overall, independent brokerages stole market share from the largest brands. In 2023, these independent firms claimed 27% of the RealTrends Verified brokerage market share, 4% more than 2022.
Low-fee or flat-fee firms continue to grow
In the flat-fee model, the traditional commission-based structure takes a backseat. Instead, agents are charged a fixed fee or a flat monthly rate, which allows them to retain a more substantial portion of their commissions from transactions.
We continue to see the same flat-fee brokerage firms take six spots in the top 20 by transaction sides. Those firms are: Redfin (7), United Real Estate (8), Fathom Realty (9), HomeSmart (10), Realty ONE Group (16) and West USA (17).
By transaction volume, there were six flat-fee firms represented in the top 20: Redfin (7), HomeSmart (11), United Real Estate (12), Fathom Realty (14), Samson Properties (19) and Realty ONE Group (20).
As brokerages of all models navigate competitive market conditions and adapt to structural changes in agent compensation, RealTrends data continues to spotlight the compensation and business models, such as low-fee, virtual brokers and platforms, that are gaining market share and supporting top-producing agents.
About RealTrends Verified: After 35 years of excellence in verifying and evaluating real estate performance data, RealTrends is proud to unveil a new chapter in our journey: RealTrends Verified – a brand that stands for ambition, achievement, transparency and trust. We’re on a mission to highlight and recognize the achievements of top-performers in real estate – while also making this data discoverable and powerful. In addition to rankings for top performers by sides and volume, the program identifies and recognizes the fastest movers, top independents, top affiliated services models and other categories for benchmarking and recognition.
This article has been updated to clarify the term “flat fee” and “low fee” and to adjust the companies practicing that model.
