The question of identifying the largest real estate company in the United States does not have a single, straightforward answer. The industry is highly fragmented, with different companies dominating distinct sectors such as residential sales, commercial services, and asset ownership. Consequently, the answer depends entirely on the specific metric used to define size, whether it is measured by annual revenue, the value of owned property, or the sheer number of affiliated agents. This complexity necessitates an exploration of the various market segments that constitute the US real estate landscape.
Understanding the Metrics of Size
A company’s size can be quantified using several different financial and operational metrics. Total Annual Revenue represents the income generated from sales, commissions, and fees, often elevating service-oriented firms to the top. Market Capitalization, which is the total value of a company’s outstanding shares, measures the public market’s valuation of a company’s future potential.
Total Assets Under Management (AUM) is the cumulative value of properties and investments a firm owns or controls. This measure is particularly relevant for investment funds and property owners rather than brokerages. The Number of Agents or Employees serves as a measure of a company’s physical scale and market reach, especially important in the residential brokerage space.
Leading Residential Brokerage Firms
The residential sector is often the first area people consider when thinking about real estate companies. Brokerage size is most often measured by total sales volume or the number of transaction sides completed annually. Compass has emerged as the largest single residential brokerage by sales volume, reporting over $231 billion in transactions in a recent year.
Anywhere Advisors operates a network of brands including Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and Sotheby’s International Realty. This collective enterprise accounts for approximately $184 billion in transactions and totals nearly 180,000 affiliated agents across its brands. This structure highlights the distinction between a single corporate brokerage and a large real estate enterprise that owns multiple franchise operations.
In terms of transaction sides, which counts each buyer and seller representation, eXp Realty leads the market, recording over 350,000 sides in a recent year. The company’s cloud-based model has fueled its rapid expansion to an agent count of around 83,000. Keller Williams maintains its position as the largest franchise brand in the industry by total agent count and total transaction volume.
Major Commercial Real Estate Services
The commercial real estate (CRE) sector focuses on office buildings, industrial warehouses, retail centers, and investment sales. Companies in this segment often generate the highest annual revenue by providing comprehensive services rather than relying solely on residential commissions. CBRE Group is the largest commercial real estate services and investment firm globally, based on its annual revenue.
CBRE’s business model is centered on a wide range of services, including property management, transaction management, leasing, and capital markets advisory for institutional investors. The company employs approximately 115,000 people worldwide and serves clients in over 100 countries. This diverse service offering allows it to capture revenue from multiple high-value streams.
Other global firms like Cushman & Wakefield and JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) also rank among the top commercial service providers. Cushman & Wakefield reported $9.49 billion in revenue in a recent year, providing services across leasing, sales, and asset management. These companies specialize in complex, high-value transactions and advisory work, resulting in higher overall corporate revenue compared to the commission-based model of most residential brokerages.
Largest Owners and Investors
A different measure of size focuses on the companies that are the largest owners of physical property. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are publicly traded companies that own income-producing real estate. Prologis, an industrial REIT specializing in logistics facilities and warehouses, is the largest US equity REIT by market capitalization, recently valued at approximately $97.90 billion.
Prologis’s size is driven by the value of its extensive portfolio of industrial properties, which are critical for e-commerce and supply chain operations. Another major player is Equinix, which operates as a REIT focused on data centers, reaching a market capitalization of $90.98 billion. The inclusion of specialized companies like Equinix and American Tower, which owns communications towers, demonstrates how the definition of real estate has expanded to include specialized infrastructure assets.
In the private sector, investment firms like Blackstone Inc. manage large real estate portfolios. Blackstone is a global leader in investment management with a real estate portfolio valued at nearly $596 billion in assets under management. These investment firms acquire and manage properties across various sectors, including logistics, residential, and office.
The Impact of Digital Platforms
The rise of technology has introduced firms whose influence is measured by valuation, data control, and market disruption rather than traditional metrics. Companies often referred to as “PropTech” leverage technology to streamline or replace conventional real estate processes. Zillow Group, for example, is a dominant digital platform whose market capitalization reflects its audience reach and control over listing data, giving it influence over the residential market.
Opendoor Technologies, an “iBuyer” platform, has disrupted the residential sales process by offering direct cash purchases of homes, using algorithms to provide instant, non-contingent offers. This model challenges the traditional brokerage structure, giving the company a large market valuation despite a lower transaction volume than traditional brokerages. Similarly, CoStar Group dominates the commercial real estate market for data, analytics, and online marketplaces for commercial properties.