Agent retention remains a persistent concern for real estate firms. According to the 2025 Profile of Real Estate Firms, 18% of firms cited agent retention as the biggest challenge facing their firm over the next two years, down from 22% in 2023. Despite this decline, retention has remained a persistent industry concern over the past decade. The reasons members leave their firms help explain why.
More than one-third of all firms (34%) shared that the reason their departing licensee resigned was to move to another real estate company, highlighting the significant mobility of real estate professionals and the competitive environment firms face in retaining talent. This is particularly true for team and hybrid firms (both 47%) and virtual firms (40%). Simultaneously, many departures stem from factors that are largely beyond firms' control, such as retirement, which accounts for 27% of departures. A smaller share of members leave to start their own independent firms (6%), illustrating that entrepreneurial ambitions also contribute to turnover.
Which Firms Feel the Greatest Retention Pressure?
Concerns about agent retention vary by firm type, size, and business activity. Hybrid firms are the most likely to identify agent retention as a major concern over the next two years (30%), followed by team-based firms (20%). Meanwhile, traditional firms, non-traditional firms, and virtual firms (18%) report similar levels of concern about retention.
Retention challenges also become more pronounced as a firm grows in size. Data from the 2025 Profile of Real Estate Firm report reveals a pattern of how often real estate firms cite agent retention as one of their biggest upcoming challenges based on the size of the brokerage. Only 8% of firms with 1-10 licensees cited agent retention as a challenge, while 45% of firms with 26-99 licensees and 53% of firms with 500 or more licensees anticipated it as an issue. As the number of agents increases, so does the ongoing churn of gaining and losing agents.
A similar pattern emerges among multi-office firms, where retention concerns rise from 14% of single-office firms to 44% of firms with three offices. This trend aligns with actual turnover patterns. Firms with more offices generally report more licensed agents leaving, particularly those with three or more locations. In 2024, firms with three offices reported a median of two departing agents, while firms with four or more offices reported a median of four departures.
Retention is also a greater concern among residential firms (20%) than commercial firms (12%) and among higher-volume brokerages. Firms with higher sales volume tend to cite agent retention as one of the biggest upcoming challenges: over half of brokerages with a gross annual sales volume of $250–$500 million (53%) or $500 million–$1 billion (57%) worry about retaining agents.
Who Stays and Who Switches Firms
Real estate professionals tend to become more committed to their firms as they gain industry experience. According to data from the 2026 Member Profile, professionals with 16 or more years of experience are the most likely to report long tenures with their current firms, reflecting the stability that often comes with established client bases and business networks. Half of members with 16 to 25 years of experience have been with their current firm for at least 12 years, while nearly two-thirds of those with 26 or more years in the industry report the same. These findings suggest that as professionals become more established, they are increasingly likely to develop long-term relationships with their firms.
At the same time, firm mobility is more common during the early and middle stages of a real estate career. Members with 3 to 15 years of experience are the most likely to have joined their current firm recently, indicating that many agents continue to explore new opportunities as they grow their businesses and refine their professional goals. Nearly one-quarter of professionals with 6 to 10 years of experience joined their current firm within the last year, compared to 13% of those with 16 to 25 years of experience, and just 8% of those with 26 or more years in the industry. This reaffirms that while firm-switching is a common part of career development for newer and mid-career professionals, it becomes less frequent as agents gain experience and establish themselves within a firm.
This mid-career pivot often means high-production agents switch firms. Among agents who left their brokerage firm within the past two years, high-production agents—those earning more than $8 million in annual sales or leasing volume—were most likely to be in the mid-to-later stages of their careers. Nearly one in five agents with 6 to 10 years of experience (17%) reported production above $8 million, compared to 16% of those with 11 to 15 years and 16 to 25 years of experience. In contrast, only 2% of agents with 3 to 5 years of experience and none of those with 2 years or less reached this production threshold. While experienced agents were more likely to be high producers, the share declined among those with 26 or more years in the industry (9%), suggesting that brokerage movement among top producers is concentrated among agents in the middle of their real estate careers rather than those who are newer to the profession or nearing the end of their careers.
The reasons agents leave their firms reinforce this pattern. Across virtually every firm structure, the most common reasons for departure are either leaving the real estate industry altogether or moving to another real estate company. These trends are particularly pronounced among hybrid and team firms, where nearly half of departures are attributed to exits from the industry or moves to competing brokerages. Retirement also remains a significant driver of turnover, especially among referral firms. Together, these findings suggest that while experienced professionals often develop lasting relationships with their firms, agent movement remains a natural part of career progression, with departures driven by a mix of career changes, competitive opportunities, and retirement.
Firms continue to focus on maintaining and growing their workforce. Thirty-five percent of firms report actively recruiting sales agents, reflecting ongoing competition for talent and the need to replace agents lost through retirement, career transitions, or moves to other firms. This, along with the 75% of members who report being very certain they will remain in the real estate business for at least two more years, shows promising signs of a workforce that remains committed to the industry overall, even as firms continue to invest in recruitment to sustain and expand their businesses.
While most real estate professionals remain committed to both the industry and their firms, agent mobility remains a defining feature of the profession, especially for those who are in the early and middle stages of their career. For firms, retention challenges are most pronounced among larger, higher-volume, and multi-office brokerages, where competition for talent is often greatest.
Author’s note: The Profile of Real Estate Firms is a biennial report released by the National Association of REALTORS®. The survey had a total of 4,672 responses received and an overall response rate of 2.2%. The 95% confidence interval was +/-1.42%, based on the share of real estate executives at real estate firms.
The Member Profile is an annual report released by the National Association of REALTORS®. The survey had a total of 5,116 responses received and an adjusted response rate of 1.7%. The 95% confidence interval is +/- 1.37%, based on a population of 1.4 million members.