(Dallas, TX) – United® Real Estate (United), the major-market residential division of United Real Estate Group, posted strong net agent count growth throughout all four quarters of 2023, outperforming the national real estate market by 14.7% at year-end 2023 and exceeding the 20,000-agent mark.
The news comes on the heels of the National Association of Realtors’ December report. NAR reported a 1.7% annual decrease in the number of real estate agents nationwide in 2023. However, Axios reported 1.537 million agents in April 2023, down from an all-time high of 1.6 million in October 2022, suggesting an actual decline of 7%-8% at year-end 2023.
The data demonstrates United’s capability of its network of offices to expand its market share irrespective of the long and short cycle movements of the housing market. United’s upward trend in agent count does not follow the conventional trend of contraction observed during real estate market downturns.
United Real Estate’s total number of affiliated real estate professionals increased 13% during 2023, growing from 18,102 agents at year-end 2022 to 20,467 agents at year-end 2023. Unlike in prior years, where the company was developing its network of market share-leading hub locations in key markets through direct investments in brokerages, the growth in 2023 was largely organic, demonstrating the “network effect” of its growth strategies.
Across all business units of United Real Estate’s parent company, United Real Estate Group, the overall agent count was up 11% at year-end, surging at an annualized rate of 27% in the fourth quarter, moving from 21,753 agents to 23,198. United is forecasting net agent growth of 10% to 15% in 2024, with the vast majority of growth coming again from organic growth versus mergers and acquisitions.
“2023 was by any measure one of if not the most challenged markets for real estate, especially if you consider population growth over the last three decades. A historically unprecedented rise in mortgage interest rates, low inventory, COVID pulling forward transactions into 2020 – 2022 and consumer sentiment all contributed to off long-term regression line performance for real estate transactions,” said Scott Johnson, Chief Financial Officer United Real Estate Holdings. “With interest rates cooling and life events continuing to happen which result in real estate transactions, we are expecting 2024 to be notably better than 2023. Our businesses were built to perform in all market conditions, so while we cannot control the market in which we operate, we do control our performance and we expect another solid year in 2024,” added Johnson.
To learn more about United Real Estate, brokerage succession planning, brokerage valuation and sale or franchising opportunities, visit GrowWithUnited.com or call 888-960-0606. Agents interested in learning about career opportunities with United Real Estate can visit JoinUnitedRealEstate.com.
About United Real Estate
United Real Estate (United) – a division of United Real Estate Group – was founded with the purpose of offering solutions to real estate brokers and agents in the rapidly changing real estate brokerage industry. United provides the latest training, marketing and technology tools to agents and brokers under a flat-fee, transaction-based agent commission model. By leveraging the company’s proprietary cloud-based Bullseye™ Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, United delivers a more profitable outcome for agents and brokers. United Real Estate operates in 32 states with 156 offices and more than 20,400 agents. The company produced over 65,000 transactions and $24.9 billion in sales volume in 2023.
About United Real Estate Group
United Real Estate Group (UREG) operates United Real Estate and United Country Real Estate, addressing the unique market needs of suburban, major metropolitan urban and rural markets. Utilizing the cloud-based Bullseye™ Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, UREG offers the latest training, marketing and technology tools producing a significant competitive advantage. The platform realizes a decade-long investment in virtual agent and brokerage technology services and is powered by a 2.6 million listings data warehouse generating over 3 million monthly visitors and 30,000+ leads per year. Together, the United Real Estate Group supports more than 590 offices and over 23,100 real estate and auction professionals across four continents. United Real Estate Group produced more than 84,000 transactions and $32.3 billion in sales volume in 2023. Through its in-house advertising agency, UREG offers differentiating marketing support and collateral for specialized lifestyle property websites as well as access to a 800,000+ opt-in buyer database. For more information about United Real Estate or United Country Real Estate, please visit UnitedRealEstate.com or UnitedCountry.com.
