Real estate marketing statistics for 2026: 30 numbers with their sources
30 US real estate statistics for 2026: agent numbers and income, how buyers and sellers use agents, Google Ads costs and home prices, all sourced.
Three numbers frame real estate marketing in the US in 2026. In the year to June 2025, 88 percent of home buyers bought through an agent or broker (NAR). A real estate lead from search ads cost a median of $102.51 in the 2026 benchmarks (LocaliQ). And the typical member of the National Association of Realtors earned 28 percent of their business from past clients in 2025 (NAR).
This page lists 30 statistics. Each one was opened and checked at its source on 2 October 2026, and each row gives the year and what was counted.
The short version
- NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found that 88 percent of US buyers and 91 percent of US sellers used a real estate agent or broker.
- For-sale-by-owner sales fell to 5 percent of US home sales in that survey, which NAR calls an all-time low.
- Real estate search ads cost a median of $3.22 a click and $102.51 a lead across 894 US campaigns in LocaliQ’s 2026 benchmarks.
- Only 3.70 percent of real estate ad clicks became leads in those benchmarks, and residential agents converted 1.29 percent.
- NAR had 1,439,163 members on 18 June 2026, and its members’ median gross income from real estate was $59,200 in 2025.
- BLS counts 530,600 real estate broker and sales agent jobs in 2025 and projects 2 percent growth from 2025 to 2035.
How big is the real estate industry in the US?
It is a trade of many small operators. BLS counted 158,689 private offices of real estate agents and brokers in 2025, and NAR had more than 1.4 million members in June 2026.
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Real estate broker and sales agent jobs, US | 530,600 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 |
| Projected job growth | 2 percent, 2025 to 2035 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 |
| Projected openings each year | About 40,400 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 |
| Median pay, sales agents and brokers | $52,830 for sales agents, $73,220 for brokers | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 |
| Share who are self-employed | 54 percent of sales agents, 55 percent of brokers | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 |
| Private offices of real estate agents and brokers (NAICS 531210) | 158,689 | BLS QCEW, 2025 annual average |
| Employees on the payroll of those offices | 338,220 | BLS QCEW, 2025 annual average |
| NAR members | 1,439,163 | NAR, 18 June 2026 |
| Median gross income of NAR members from real estate | $59,200 | NAR 2026 Member Profile, for 2025 |
| Median experience of NAR members | 13 years | NAR 2026 Member Profile, for 2025 |
| Typical individual agent’s year | 9 transaction sides, $2.7 million in sales volume | NAR 2026 Member Profile, for 2025 |
| Share of a typical member’s business from past clients | 28 percent, up from 20 percent | NAR 2026 Member Profile, for 2025 |
The headcounts do not match, because each source counts something different. BLS counts jobs. The payroll figure counts employees of brokerage offices. NAR counts its own members, and its release says 86 percent of them are independent contractors (NAR).
Both office and payroll counts have fallen. There were 162,685 offices in 2023 and 158,689 in 2025. Payroll employment fell from 347,691 in 2024 to 338,220 in 2025.
Income rises sharply with experience. NAR members with 16 years or more in the business had a median gross income of $88,500 in 2025. For how employer counts and business counts differ in general, see US small business counts by market.
Photo: Alena Darmel on Pexels.
How do buyers and sellers find and choose an agent?
Most still use one. In NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 88 percent of buyers bought through an agent or broker and 91 percent of sellers sold with one.
The survey covers people who bought a primary residence between July 2024 and June 2025. NAR mailed it to 173,250 recent buyers and received 6,103 responses (NAR).
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Buyers who bought through a real estate agent or broker | 88 percent | NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, US, 2025 |
| Sellers who sold with the help of an agent | 91 percent | NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, US, 2025 |
| Home sales that were for sale by owner | 5 percent, an all-time low | NAR, US, 2025 |
| Median price, for sale by owner against agent-assisted | $360,000 against $425,000 | NAR, US, 2025 |
| Buyers who most wanted help finding the right home | 50 percent | NAR Profile highlights, US, 2025 |
| Median time buyers spent searching | 10 weeks | NAR Profile highlights, US, 2025 |
| First-time buyers as a share of all buyers | 21 percent, a historic low | NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, US, 2025 |
| Median age of first-time and repeat buyers | 40 and 62 | NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, US, 2025 |
| Median time sellers had owned the home | 11 years, an all-time high | NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, US, 2025 |
| Consumers who read reviews for local businesses (not real estate alone) | 97 percent | BrightLocal, US, 2026 |
| Consumers who will only use a business with four stars or more (not real estate alone) | 68 percent | BrightLocal, US, 2026 |
The price gap between owner sales and agent sales is not proof that an agent adds $65,000. NAR says a common reason to sell by owner is selling to a friend or relative (NAR). So the two groups of homes may differ.
The full NAR report has figures on how buyers found their agent, including referrals. That report sits behind NAR’s member download, and the free pages we opened do not carry those tables. Other sites quote them, and we left them out because we could not open the source. The two review rows are from a survey of 1,002 US adults about all local businesses.
What do Google Ads cost for real estate?
A real estate click cost a median of $3.22 and a lead cost $102.51 in the 2026 benchmarks. The report covers 894 US search campaigns that ran between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026 (LocaliQ).
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per click, real estate | $3.22, up 27.27 percent in a year | LocaliQ real estate benchmarks, US, 2026 |
| Click-through rate, real estate | 7.61 percent | LocaliQ real estate benchmarks, US, 2026 |
| Conversion rate, real estate | 3.70 percent | LocaliQ real estate benchmarks, US, 2026 |
| Cost per lead, real estate | $102.51 | LocaliQ real estate benchmarks, US, 2026 |
| Cost per lead, residential real estate agents | $157.59, at a 1.29 percent conversion rate | LocaliQ real estate benchmarks, US, 2026 |
Clicks are cheap and leads are not. The $3.22 click is well under the $5.42 median for all industries in the same year’s report (LocaliQ). The lead still costs $102.51, because fewer than four clicks in a hundred become an enquiry.
The sub-categories differ widely. Property management converted 10.24 percent of clicks and paid $76.71 a lead. Real estate brokers converted 1.53 percent and paid $162.39.
The Google Ads cost guide explains how the auction sets click prices. The cost per lead benchmarks post covers the other industries.
Photo: Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.
When do customers buy and what do they pay?
The newest figures are for August 2026. Existing homes sold at an annual rate of 3.98 million in August 2026, at a median price of $429,100.
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Existing-home sales, seasonally adjusted annual rate | 3.98 million | NAR existing-home sales, US, August 2026 |
| Median existing-home price | $429,100 | NAR research and statistics, US, August 2026 |
NAR’s sales rate is seasonally adjusted, so it does not show which months are busiest. We did not open a primary source for month-by-month seasonality, and this page makes no claim about it.
What a customer pays an agent is also missing here. We found no primary source we could open that measures commission rates, so none is quoted.
Two other figures give context. Mortgage rates averaged 6.69 percent over the period the 2025 Profile covers (NAR). The US homeownership rate was 65.0 percent in the second quarter of 2026 (Census Bureau).
What does this mean for your marketing?
This section is our reading at Mavix. It is opinion built on the figures above.
Past clients bring more than a quarter of the business. NAR’s member figures put repeat business at 28 percent for the typical member, and about half for those with 16 years or more. Staying in touch with past clients comes before buying new leads.
Sellers have owned for 11 years. A long gap between sales means a long wait for repeat business. Being found when someone starts looking matters. Local SEO for real estate covers the map results, and SEO for real estate covers the pages behind them. The local SEO cost guide covers what that work costs.
Budget for the lead, not the click. A residential agent lead cost a median of $157.59. Run your own close rate through the Google Ads ROI calculator before looking at Google Ads for real estate.
The real estate marketing page sets out how we approach the trade.
The bottom line
A statistic is useful when you know who counted, what they counted and when. NAR is a trade body reporting on its own members and their clients, and its surveys are large and long-running. The ad figures are medians from one provider’s campaigns. Use both to set expectations, then measure your own enquiries and closings.
Questions people ask about this
How many real estate agents are there in the US?
It depends on the count. BLS records 530,600 real estate broker and sales agent jobs in 2025. The National Association of Realtors had 1,439,163 members on 18 June 2026, down from 1,463,352 a year earlier. The two figures are built differently and should not be compared directly.
What percentage of home buyers use a real estate agent?
In NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 88 percent of buyers bought through a real estate agent or broker. The survey covers primary residence buyers between July 2024 and June 2025 and had 6,103 responses. Among sellers, 91 percent sold with an agent.
What is the average cost per lead for real estate on Google Ads?
The median was $102.51 in LocaliQ’s 2026 real estate search benchmarks, which cover 894 US campaigns. Residential real estate agents paid a median of $157.59 a lead. Property management paid $76.71. A median means half of the campaigns paid more.
How much do real estate agents make?
BLS puts median pay at $52,830 for sales agents and $73,220 for brokers in 2025. NAR’s 2026 Member Profile reports a median gross income of $59,200 for its members in 2025. Members with 16 years or more of experience had a median of $88,500.
What share of home sales are for sale by owner?
Five percent, according to NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which NAR describes as an all-time low. NAR says owner sales made up as much as 21 percent of sales in 1985.
Why is the conversion rate so low for real estate ads?
The benchmark report gives the figure and not the cause. Across real estate, 3.70 percent of clicks became leads, against 8.18 percent for all industries. Our view is that many people who search for homes are browsing listings and are months from choosing an agent. That is an opinion.
How long do buyers search for a home?
A median of 10 weeks, in NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. NAR says that was unchanged from the year before. The same report says buyers found finding the right home the hardest part of the process.
Sources for every number on this page
- Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents, Occupational Outlook Handbook, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025 data.
- Number of establishments, NAICS 531210, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- All employees, NAICS 531210, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- First-Time Home Buyer Share Falls to Historic Low of 21%, National Association of Realtors, 4 November 2025.
- 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, highlights, National Association of Realtors.
- FSBOs Reach All-Time Low, More Sellers Rely on Agents, National Association of Realtors, 11 November 2025.
- Even in a Tougher Market, Realtors Are Holding Their Ground, on the 2026 Member Profile, 25 June 2026.
- 2026 Member Profile news release, National Association of Realtors, 25 June 2026.
- Existing-home sales, National Association of Realtors, August 2026 figures.
- 2026 Real Estate Search Advertising Benchmarks, LocaliQ.
- Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, BrightLocal, published 11 February 2026.
- Housing Vacancies and Homeownership, US Census Bureau, second quarter 2026.
Last checked against the sources on 2026-10-02.
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