In total, 20% of leaders surveyed lead companies with more than 1,000 agents. Another 7% manage 501 to 1,000 agents; 38% manage 101 to 500 agents; 20% manage 21 to 100 agents; and 15% manage 20 or fewer agents. This was the fourth year the company conducted the study.
“After four years of tracking broker sentiment, what stands out this year is the clarity,” Michael Minard, the CEO and owner of Delta Media, said in a statement. “Leaders are no longer guessing about the market. They know where growth might come from, and they know what threatens it.”
Delta Media Group is a technology partner for more than 80 LeadingRE affiliated companies and more than 50 national top real estate agents.
Despite challenges such as continued margin pressure and restrictions on housing inventory, the report says broker leaders remain optimistic, adding that 2026 results mark a shift from the uncertainty seen in previous years.
“The outlook for 2026 shows that confidence has not declined. It has hardened,” Minard said. “Brokerage leaders now expect growth while remaining focused on pricing pressure, margins and execution.”
According to the survey results, most brokerage leaders (59%) expect the U.S. economy to improve over the next twelve months, compared to 21% who expect it to worsen and 20% who expect it to remain the same. The report added that real estate agents continue to have the most confidence in their local economies, followed by their state and national economies.
Reflecting this general optimism, the majority of real estate agents (62%) expect housing demand to improve by 2026. Only a third say they expect demand to remain stable, while 5% expect a decline. Additionally, 85% of leaders surveyed expect profitability to increase in 2026, compared to 63% in 2025 and just 18% in 2023.
“These results are in stark contrast to 2023, when more than half of leaders expected profitability to decline,” Minard said. “The shift reflects years of adjustment in personnel, spending and technology decisions.”
In addition to profitability, the vast majority (82%) of leaders also expect the transaction side to increase by 2026, while 66% expect their company to gain market share in the coming year.
While real estate agents may be more optimistic, they still face many challenges. Some of the most commonly cited challenges include recruiting top agents (63%), agent productivity (54%), recruiting younger agents (48%), lower profit margins (41%) and housing inventory (40%).
Additionally, when it comes to technology adoption, leaders reported that agent utilization, training and return on investment are ongoing hurdles as they strive to better integrate and leverage AI tools into daily brokerage operations.
“AI is no longer a future concept,” says Minard. “From the release of our AI survey, we know that 97% of brokerage leaders say their agents use AI. AI use in real estate is ubiquitous. The focus has shifted to structure and strategy.”
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