Is Real Estate Leadership A Boy’s Club?

When you look at the real estate industry, at its surface, you can see why the rumblings about it being a boy’s club are so pervasive. After all, the leaders of the ten largest brokerage firms in the nation are men.

But, we’ve interviewed a plethora of top female leaders and, at REAL Trends, four of the top six company leaders are women. So, we wondered, what are the numbers? Is real estate leadership a boy’s club?

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Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:

  • 156 women of the top 500-ranked brokerages either lead their firms solely, are partners in their firms or are senior officers one rung below the CEO level.  
  • 31 percent of the 500-ranked brokerage firms either solely run by women or jointly run by women. That’s up from approximately 26 percent just two years ago!
  • 3 of the 6 highest-ranking regional executives of HomeServices of America are women and all report to the CEO.
  • 2 of the 5 highest-ranking executives of RE/MAX LLC are women.
  • 3 of the 7 highest-ranking executives at Keller Williams are women.
  • 2 of 5 brand leaders at Realogy are women.

So, slowly (too slowly in our opinion) women are increasing their share of the leadership positions in the brokerage industry. And this is a trend that is likely to continue. Why? Sheer talent and numbers. There are more women in sales management positions and more women in successful sales than there ever have been.  

When REAL Trends’ completes its rankings of agents and teams in the next few months, we will likely find that a majority of the top producing individual agents and teams will be led by women.  

By: Tracey C. Velt, editor and Steve Murray, president of REAL Trends