With a comprehensive Strategic Plan, an 80-page annual report, and top leadership appearances on just about every stage and platform, people are starting to see a new NAR.
CEO Nykia Wright and 2026 NAR President Kevin Brown’s one-on-one interviews at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday and Thursday are the latest examples of how NAR is living its transparency era.
Clelia Warburg Peters, managing partner at Era Ventures, asked Wright about NAR’s 2026–2028 Strategic Plan—specifically the tangible value it delivers to members—as well as questions about what NAR views as its “lane.”
“NAR’s lane is to be the basecamp for the industry, and it is to be here for the independent contractors around the country that do not necessarily always have to stay with a particular brokerage,” Wright said. “If you leave house one and go to house two, you can come back and get educated, network—all of the things.”
She spoke about how all three levels of REALTOR® organization—local, state and national—should support members rather than compete against their business models.
In both Wright’s interview and Brown’s one-on-one with Brad Inman, Inman Group’s founder, the question was raised: What is NAR doing to address housing affordability?
“NAR is the only institution in the country that is holding the line [on] this conversation,” Wright said. “When people say, why is this on the president’s agenda, it’s because we set the table for it to be on the agenda.”
She added, “And to be clear, when I say ‘we,’ it’s the collective we, because this is your dues dollars.”
Wright highlighted RPAC’s “purple party” doctrine, giving equally to Democrats and Republicans, and efforts to elect pro-REALTOR® and pro-homeownership lawmakers.
Brown touted bills NAR is actively engaged in, like the bipartisan More Homes on the Market Act that would double the capital gains exclusion of a primary residence, from $250,000 to $500,000 for a single household and $500,000 to $1 million for a married couple. The exclusion was last revised under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.
At its annual Policy Forum, NAR members engaged in dialogue with policymakers on solutions to expand housing affordability and support the dreams of would-be home buyers and sellers. https://t.co/yu1ySPf2Wc
— NAR REALTOR® NEWS (@realtormag) January 28, 2026
“That is a 30-year-old law,” Brown says. “It was never indexed for inflation ... and so now we have this conundrum where people are locked into their houses … they have a 2.75% interest rate, and they’re also locked in because they either can’t afford to pay the tax or don’t want to pay the tax.”
He also mentioned helping to cut regulatory red tape to help increase housing inventory.
Both Brown and Wright talked about the association’s popular AI-driven, no-cost Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®) used by roughly 500,000 members to harness data on millions of residential and commercial listings. NAR’s investment in the database is just one way it is focusing on members and supporting their day-to-day business, a goal both Wright and Brown stressed.
Brad Inman noted the “arrogance factor of NAR seems to have gone away.”
To which Brown said, “There’s no room for arrogance.”
