Overall, 20% of the leaders surveyed manage firms 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 survey.
“After four years of tracking brokerage sentiment, what stands out this year is 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 can come from, and they know what threatens it.”
Delta Media Group is a technology partner for more than 80 LeadingRE affiliates and more than 50 top-ranked brokerages nationwide.
Despite challenges like continued margin pressure and housing inventory constraints, the report said that brokerage leaders remain optimistic, adding that the 2026 results mark a shift from the uncertainty recorded in previous years.
“The 2026 outlook shows confidence has not faded. It has hardened,” Minard said. “Brokerage leaders now expect growth while staying 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 12 months, compared to 21% who expect it to deteriorate and 20% who expect it to stay the same. The report added that brokers remain most confident in their local economy, followed by their state and national economies.
Reflecting this overall optimism, the majority of brokers (62%) expect housing demand to improve in 2026. Just one-third said they expect demand to remain steady, while 5% anticipate 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 stand in sharp contrast to 2023, when more than half of leaders expected profitability to decline,” Minard said. “The shift reflects years of adjustment in staffing, expenses, and technology decisions.”
In addition to profitability, the vast majority (82%) of leaders also expect transaction sides to rise in 2026, while 66% expect that their firm will gain market share over the next year.
While brokers may be more optimistic, they are still facing many challenges. Some of the most common challenges cited include recruiting top agents (63%), agent productivity (54%), recruiting younger agents (48%), reduced profit margins (41%) and housing inventory (40%).
Additionally, when it comes to technology adoption, leaders reported that agent usage, training and return on investment are ongoing hurdles as they look to better integrate and utilize AI tools in daily brokerage operations.
“AI is no longer a future concept,” Minard said. “We know from the release of our AI Survey that 97% of brokerage leaders say their agents are using AI. AI use in real estate is ubiquitous. The focus has shifted to structure and strategy.”
