The real estate industry is diverse, making the designation of the “biggest” companies complex. A single metric cannot capture the massive scale of these enterprises, as size is measured differently across the residential, commercial, and investment sectors. The largest firms influence everything from local housing prices to global supply chain infrastructure, underscoring their broad economic impact.
Defining “Biggest”: Key Metrics for Real Estate Giants
The size of a real estate firm is determined by metrics tailored to its specific business model. For transaction-focused companies, volume is the primary measure of scale. This includes the total dollar value of properties sold (sales volume) or the number of completed deals (transaction sides).
Brokerage firms, particularly in the residential market, also use agent count to demonstrate their reach. Investment-focused companies are measured by their financial holdings. These firms use Assets Under Management (AUM), the total market value of the properties and capital they control, or market capitalization, the total value of a publicly traded company’s shares.
The Largest Residential Brokerage Firms
Residential brokerage firms facilitate home sales for individual buyers and sellers, often operating through vast agent networks. Their scale is reflected in annual sales volume, which can reach hundreds of billions of dollars.
Companies like Compass and Anywhere Advisors consistently rank at the top by sales volume. Compass surpassed $231 billion in sales in 2024. Anywhere Advisors operates major franchise brands such as Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s International Realty, reporting a combined sales volume of approximately $187 billion in the same period.
The franchise model allows firms to expand their agent count dramatically. Keller Williams is recognized as the largest franchise brand by agent count, with a global network of over 150,000 agents. Other high-growth models, such as eXp Realty, prioritize a large agent roster and cloud-based operations, leading the industry in transaction sides with over 350,000 deals in 2024. These companies leverage their extensive agent networks to exert influence across local housing markets nationwide.
Dominant Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Firms
Commercial real estate (CRE) brokerage firms focus on business-to-business transactions involving office buildings, industrial warehouses, retail centers, and investment properties. Their scale is measured by the revenue generated from high-value services like leasing, property management, and capital markets advisory.
The commercial sector is dominated by global players that advise corporations and institutional investors on massive real estate portfolios. CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, completed $175.3 billion in global investment sales in 2024. The company’s leasing activity totaled $157.6 billion in value during the same year.
Other globally recognized firms, such as JLL and Cushman & Wakefield, maintain substantial market shares through comprehensive service offerings. Cushman & Wakefield reported nearly $9.5 billion in revenue in 2023 across its core services. These firms differentiate themselves from residential brokerages by managing complex, large-scale transactions and providing strategic real estate advice to multinational businesses.
Major Real Estate Investment Trusts and Investment Firms
The largest players that own and manage property directly are Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and investment management firms. These companies generate income by holding vast portfolios of income-producing assets, rather than facilitating transactions. REITs own properties like industrial warehouses, data centers, or apartment complexes and are measured by market capitalization and the total value of their assets.
An REIT must distribute a minimum of 90% of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends, allowing the company to avoid corporate income tax. This structure offers investors a liquid way to own large-scale real estate. The largest REITs by market capitalization often specialize in specific, high-demand property types.
Prologis, which focuses on industrial logistics properties, and American Tower, which owns communication infrastructure like cell towers, are consistently ranked among the most valuable REITs. Investment firms like Blackstone Real Estate operate on a similar scale, managing massive global portfolios with Assets Under Management reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. The volume of capital and assets controlled by these firms gives them significant influence over global property values and development trends.
The Impact of Scale in Real Estate
The immense scale of the largest real estate firms creates a powerful influence across all market segments. Whether through the vast agent network of a residential brokerage or the expansive property ownership of an investment trust, these companies drive market trends, determine pricing, and shape technology adoption. Their size allows for significant global investment flows, and their actions have a broad effect on the availability and cost of housing and commercial space.