Reflecting on the REAL Trends 500 Report

This year's REAL Trends 500 report is now released and available for view. The process that Steve Murray has followed in collecting the sales data for the report is rigorous. They collect the data directly from the franchise organizations and directly from independent firms. We see this research quoted around the industry every year because it is important information to use in any kind of benchmarking. A lot of firms, teams, and agents talk about what they are doing to drive success in their business. The measurement of that talk is borne out in results. Talk is cheap, as they say.

For a number of years now, REAL Trends has been reporting on the growth of large firms. The big are getting bigger. Take a look at the top mover's report. No doubt, the investment community is participating in this trend. Berkshire Hathaway has been funding a significant acquisition program at HomeServices of America. SoftBank and others have fueled growth at Compass. The public market has fueled growth at eXp Realty. But not all growth firms have used outside funding. The Keller Williams brokerage growth is fueled by agent training and solid execution. Same can be said for Hunt Real Estate, JP and Associates and HomeSmart.

Once again, the company owned firms of Realogy lead the industry in transaction dollar volume at just over $175 billion. Realogy's focus for NRT has always been on owning firms in America's largest cities where prices are higher. For the first time, our industry has a seen a change at the top of the list in transaction side leadership with HomeServices of America closing 346,629 units – just over 10,000 more than NRT. Perhaps the biggest trend here is how many large independent firms have been consumed by Compass and HomeServices this year.

It is a worthy footnote that Howard Hanna and Allen Tate reported separately this year despite the relationship between those two firms. When you add Hanna's $16B to Tate's nearly $6B, these firms jump into fourth place in dollar volume, right on the heels of Douglas Elliman and well ahead of eXp Realty. Howard Hanna is already ranked in third place behind NRT in overall unit volume, but they jump up over the 100,000 transaction sides mark when you add in the Allen Tate Companies.

Alain Pinel is also reported separately. They are now part of Compass, contributing $12B and just under 7000 sides. At close to $60B, that makes Compass about double the size of Douglas Elliman.

Another footnote is that Weichert did not provide their information. They are certainly a top 10 firm – probably top five.

There has been a lot of smack talk about companies leveraging technology to power success. WAV Group consultant David Gumpper is developing analysis to reveal the correlation between transaction volume and technology. Be sure to subscribe to WAV Group to receive a copy of that report when it is released this spring.

• Top 500 by Sides
• Top 500 by Volume
• Top Movers

To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.