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AI in real estate statistics 2026

The numbers we teach from, each linked to the study that measured it, plus our own count of Virginia's 41,597 active licensed agents.

By Ryan Wanner, AI Acceleration · Published October 1, 2026 · Next review January 1, 2027

Industry statistics on AI and real estate

Measured by other publishers. Each figure was read on the publisher's own page. The link, publication date, and measured period sit beside it.

  1. 48%

    48% of REALTORS® use AI at least weekly: 23% daily and 25% weekly, in NAR's 2026 Technology Report.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report. Published September 22, 2026. Measured: 2026 member survey. Sample: NAR members surveyed for the 2026 report. NAR's free pages don't publish the sample size.. #

  2. 55%

    55% of REALTORS® responding to NAR's 2026 Technology Report said AI has had a positive effect on their real estate business.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report. Published September 22, 2026. Measured: 2026 member survey. Sample: NAR members surveyed for the 2026 report. NAR's free pages don't publish the sample size.. #

  3. 75%

    75% of REALTORS® who use AI use it to write listing descriptions, the top AI use case in NAR's 2026 Technology Report.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report. Published September 22, 2026. Measured: 2026 member survey. Sample: REALTORS® who use AI. NAR's free pages don't publish the sample size.. #

  4. 81%

    81% of REALTORS® said saving time is their main reason for adopting new technology in 2026, up from 66% in 2025.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report. Published September 22, 2026. Measured: 2026 member survey, compared with 2025. Sample: NAR members surveyed for the 2026 report. NAR's free pages don't publish the sample size.. #

  5. 63%

    63% of REALTORS® named the learning curve as their biggest challenge in adopting new technology in 2026. 59% named cost.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report. Published September 22, 2026. Measured: 2026 member survey. Sample: NAR members surveyed for the 2026 report. NAR's free pages don't publish the sample size.. #

  6. 12%

    12% of REALTORS® said in 2026 that they don't use AI and have no plans to. In 2025, 32% had not yet tried AI. NAR makes this comparison, though the two questions were worded differently.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report. Published September 22, 2026. Measured: 2026 member survey, compared with July 2025. Sample: NAR members. The 2026 sample size isn't published on the free pages.. #

  7. 38%

    38% of employed U.S. adults said they use AI chatbots for tasks at work, in Pew Research Center's February 2026 survey.

    Source: Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact. Published June 17, 2026. Measured: Feb. 17 to 23, 2026. Sample: 5,119 U.S. adults. #

  8. 1 in 5

    1 in 5 prospective buyers and current homeowners are now using AI tools in the homebuying process, according to Bank of America's spring 2026 survey.

    Source: Bank of America Institute, 2026 Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report. Published June 2026. Measured: April 13 to May 10, 2026. Sample: 2,000 U.S. adults (1,000 homeowners and 1,000 renters), conducted by Sparks Research. #

  9. 530,600

    There were 530,600 real estate broker and sales agent jobs in the U.S. in 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 2% growth from 2025 to 2035, slower than average.

    Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents. Published August 27, 2026. Measured: 2025 employment, 2025 to 2035 projection. Sample: BLS Employment Projections estimate, including self-employed workers. #

  10. 57

    The typical REALTOR® is 57 years old, according to NAR's 2026 Member Profile of 2025 business activity. NAR membership stood at 1,438,569.

    Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 Member Profile. Published June 25, 2026. Measured: Calendar year 2025. Sample: Random sample of NAR members. The release doesn't state the sample size.. #

Original research: Virginia's licensed agents

Who's actually doing the work in a real estate market? We counted. These figures come from Virginia's public license records: the active licensee lists pulled September 26, 2026 and the firm affiliations file dated September 23, 2026. The base is 41,597 active salespersons and associate brokers with a Virginia address.

  1. 51.2%

    51.2% of Virginia's affiliated agents (21,267 of 41,557) work at one of 65 firms with more than 100 Virginia agents each. Those 65 firms are 2.2% of the 2,912 firms with an affiliated agent.

    Base: Active salespersons and associate brokers with a Virginia address and a firm affiliation. Licensee lists pulled 2026-09-26, affiliations file dated 2026-09-23. #

  2. 26.6%

    The 10 largest firms hold 26.6% of Virginia's affiliated agents (11,062 of 41,557).

    Base: Firms ranked by the number of affiliated agents with a Virginia address. Affiliations file dated 2026-09-23. #

  3. 31.7%

    31.7% of Virginia firms with an affiliated agent (924 of 2,912) have exactly one Virginia agent.

    Base: Firms with at least one affiliated agent with a Virginia address. Affiliations file dated 2026-09-23. #

  4. 5.0%

    5.0% of affiliated Virginia agents licensed at least a year (1,924 of 38,500) started their current firm affiliation in the 90 days ending 2026-09-23.

    Base: Affiliated agents licensed 365+ days by 2026-09-23 whose current affiliation date falls between 2026-06-26 and 2026-09-23 and is at least 365 days after their license date. #

  5. 7.2%

    7.2% of Virginia's active agents (3,011 of 41,597) were first licensed in the 12 months before 2026-09-26. 17.5% (7,292) were licensed within the last 3 years.

    Base: Active salespersons and associate brokers with a Virginia address, by original license date. #

  6. 9.4 years

    The median Virginia agent was first licensed 9.4 years ago. 25.3% (10,536 of 41,597) have held a license for 20 years or more.

    Base: Active salespersons and associate brokers with a Virginia address, years from original license date to 2026-09-26. #

How we counted

  • Source: the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) publishes free, weekly, tab-delimited lists of every active real estate licensee. We pulled the salesperson, associate broker, principal broker, and sole proprietor lists on 2026-09-26. Firm affiliations and affiliation dates come from DPOR's affiliations file dated 2026-09-23, which DPOR provides to the public on request. Agents join to firms on the firm license number.
  • Population: 54,595 active licensees across all four ranks. The findings use the 41,597 active salespersons and associate brokers whose address of record is in Virginia. Licensees with an out-of-state address are excluded.
  • Firm size counts the affiliated agents with a Virginia address at each firm license. Branch offices roll up to the firm license. 40 agents had no firm affiliation on the list and are excluded from the firm figures.
  • A new affiliation means the agent's current affiliation date is inside the window. The list shows only the current affiliation, so it can't tell a move between firms from a return to an earlier one, and an agent who moved twice counts once.
  • Missing data: every agent in the population had a license date and every affiliated agent had an affiliation date, so nothing was imputed. We publish aggregates only. No name or email from the list appears here.

Quoting a figure? Link to its # anchor and keep the date and base with the number. Found an error? Tell us through the contact form and we'll correct it here and log the change.

Change log

  • 2026-10-01: First publication.

Want to know who's behind this? Read about AI Acceleration and Ryan Wanner