{"id":48737,"date":"2026-04-13T16:20:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/the-platform-play-how-real-lpt-realty-are-reshaping-brokerage-growth\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:20:48","slug":"the-platform-play-how-real-lpt-realty-are-reshaping-brokerage-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/the-platform-play-how-real-lpt-realty-are-reshaping-brokerage-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"The platform play: How Real, LPT Realty are reshaping brokerage growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

RealTrends Verified\u2019s <\/strong>2026 brokerage rankings reveal clear momentum for technology-fueled challengers, with The Real Brokerage<\/strong> and LPT Realty<\/strong> again emerging as significant movers.<\/p>\n

The Real Brokerage, led by CEO Tamir Poleg<\/a>, held steady at No. 5 by sales volume with $65.2 billion. <\/p>\n

But the company\u2019s more notable achievement came in transaction sides, where it jumped<\/a> to No. 5 \u2014 overtaking Hanna Holdings<\/strong> \u2014 and led all brokerages with a 40,749 yearly side gain.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, LPT Realty, headed by founder and CEO Robert Palmer<\/a>, delivered one of the breakout performances of the rankings. <\/p>\n

The firm vaulted from No. 10 to No. 7 in transaction sides \u2014 increasing its total to 61,04 and ranking third nationally with a 24,672 increase.<\/p>\n

Poleg: \u2018Agents follow value\u2019 \u2014 not signing bonuses<\/h2>\n

For Poleg, Real\u2019s sustained growth<\/a> comes down to a single bet; agents will pay for tools that actually work.<\/p>\n

\u201cReal is the only brokerage that managed to grow so substantially in 2025 and 2024 as well, while we actually increased our pricing and increased our fees three times in the past three years,\u201d he told HousingWire<\/strong>. \u201cTypically, in times like these, brokerages cut fees and add a lot of concession and promotions, but we did exactly the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

That strategy, he argued, proves that agents<\/a> follow value \u2014 not the lowest price, sign-on bonuses or recruiting checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just believe that the model by itself is very attractive,\u201d Poleg said, pointing to Real\u2019s proprietary platform Reason as the technological backbone of that value proposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cReason consists of multiple features and products for agents, but essentially it\u2019s like an operating system for an agent business,\u201d Poleg said. \u201cIt gives full visibility into the agent\u2019s business and finances on our platform. It\u2019s been a huge, huge driver and we keep adding more layers to Reason.<\/p>\n

Roughly 18 months ago, Real added Real Wallet<\/a> \u2014 allowing agents to open checking accounts, access lines of credit and more.<\/p>\n

The results have been striking, Poleg said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have over 7,000 agents right now banking with us on the wallet,\u201d Poleg said. \u201cTheir churn is about 80% lower compared to agents that are not on the wallet.\u201d<\/p>\n

That retention metric has helped keep revenue churn at its lowest level in five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are determined to think very long term,\u201d Poleg said. \u201cThat means investing in technology that will give our agents an unfair advantage in the next five or 10 years. We are thinking about profitability, but at the same time, we put a lot of resources into tech development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2026, our [research and development] budget has increased, but we were able to both grow significantly, lower our operating expenses per transaction, and invest heavily in technology, all three together, which is outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the risk of a growth plateau \u2014 a common concern for rapidly expanding firms \u2014 Poleg dismissed the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the past three years, we were able to add anywhere between 5,000 to 10,000 agents on an annual basis for three years in a row,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that that trajectory will continue. What\u2019s happening right now is a paradigm shift in real estate. Agents are migrating from traditional models such as Keller Williams<\/strong> or Century 21<\/strong> to newer models like Real<\/strong> and even LPT<\/strong> and eXp<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgents today are looking for something else. They\u2019re looking for more freedom, more flexibility, more technology and just a brokerage that is a platform for them to grow their businesses on \u2014 rather than a brokerage that you join and you actually build somebody else\u2019s business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palmer: Meeting agents where they are<\/h2>\n

For LPT Realty\u2019s Palmer, the secret to his firm\u2019s rapid ascent<\/a> \u2014 from No. 10 to No. 7 in transaction sides \u2014 is rooted in a philosophy of individualized support rather than a one-size-fits-all model.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of what we did is we built models that meet agents where they are,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cInstead of trying to force them to be something for us, we try to meet them where they are in their career.\u201d<\/p>\n

That approach centers on what Palmer calls an \u201cindividual definition of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s an agent selling three, four or five houses a year, or a team leader who wants to build a 2,000-unit-a-year team, we\u2019ve got a plan and infrastructure here at LPT to help them grow and achieve that definition of success,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s probably been our single biggest differentiator.\u201d<\/p>\n

On compensation, Palmer pushed back against the notion that agent-friendly cap models necessarily hurt brokerage margins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people think about the cap model, if you look at the other publicly traded cloud models, having too many high producing agents is actually more damaging to your margin than our model is,\u201d he said. \u201dWe have lots of high-producing agents. I think we\u2019re submitting 600-plus agents and teams for [RealTrends Verified\u2019s rankings] this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also didn\u2019t leave the smaller agent behind. We didn\u2019t leave the agent who\u2019s just getting going behind. It\u2019s really helped us balance out the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recruiting<\/a>, Palmer said, has been driven by productivity \u2014 not just headcount.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see in our rankings there, our transaction count grew faster than our agent count,\u201d he said. \u201cAgents continue to become more productive as they get on the platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the question of a potential growth plateau, Palmer shared similar sentiments to his counterpart at The Real Brokerage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the fastest brokerage to ever reach the top 10 \u2014 the fastest brokerage to ever reach No. 7,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve actually been pretty judicious about the growth. We\u2019re focused geographically and a dominant force in the state of Florida. We\u2019re the number one brokerage by agent count and transaction count in Central Florida, where we originally launched.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got dominant agent counts and transaction counts in California and Texas, but there\u2019s still a lot of room for us to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for commission<\/a> compression following the NAR settlements, Palmer said LPT\u2019s average price point in the high $300,000s insulates the firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very much helping the average first-time homebuyer, the average American buy a home,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not specializing in multi-million-dollar properties, which is where I think you see the most commission compression. The nature of our cap and our flat fee means that we\u2019re really in a great position to [hit financial goals] and still give the agent plenty of room to succeed if there is a little bit of commission compression.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can tell you to date, we haven\u2019t seen any commission compression happening across our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Murray: Plateaus hard to avoid<\/h2>\n

Longtime industry expert Steve Murray \u2014 senior advisor for HousingWire and founder of RealTrends and RTC Consulting<\/strong> \u2014 offered a dose of perspective for Real and LPT.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still have room to grow, but the big factor is when you\u2019re the new guy and you have a different model,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re using equity in your business as a means to recruit agents, sooner or later, you run out of equity, as Compass<\/strong> found out. Sooner or later, you can\u2019t just keep offering your stock to agents and teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the question of a growth ceiling, Murray was unequivocal.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery firm I\u2019ve ever noted in my years of doing this \u2014 they use various means to grow rapidly \u2014 and every one of them seems to hit a plateau of some kind,\u201d he said. \u201cThen it becomes harder to keep growing at that rate, because there\u2019s always new forms of competition offered out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt their current levels of production, [Real and LPT] would need to quadruple in size to be doing enough transactions to break through to the top three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if a slower growth period comes for one of or both companies, Murray said what Real and LPT have achieved demands respect and acknowledgement. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt one time, REMAX<\/strong> was the new guy on the block,\u201d he said. \u201cAt another time, Keller Williams was the new guy on the block. eXp was the new kid with the new model and new offerings. They all grew extraordinarily rapidly. Then they all seemed to hit a certain level, and they\u2019ve all kind of plateaued. It\u2019s just the nature of our industry and the way it works.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill, [Real and LPT] should be proud of what they\u2019ve achieved, and I\u2019m greatly respectful of what they\u2019ve accomplished.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RealTrends Verified\u2019s 2026 brokerage rankings reveal clear momentum for technology-fueled challengers, with The Real Brokerage and LPT Realty again emerging as significant movers. The Real Brokerage, led by CEO Tamir Poleg, held steady at No. 5 by sales volume with $65.2 billion. But the company\u2019s more notable achievement came in transaction sides, where it jumped…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}