EXp Realty, one of the nation’s largest brokerages, is focusing on agent productivity and international expansion as economic uncertainty in the United States continues creating challenges for growth.
The brokerage’s parent company, eXp World Holdings, said on Tuesday that its revenue had increased by just 1% compared to the same period a year ago. At the same time, the brand saw a 2% decrease in transactions and a 5% fall in agent count.
It was a significantly softer quarter for the Bellingham, Washington-based company than analysts expected, even as they braced for weaker results following a shaky quarter for the industry.
During a call with investors to discuss the brokerage’s earnings, Interim Chief Financial Officer Jesse Hill said “an admittedly tough macroeconomic environment” — during which mortgage rates hovered around 7% and uncertainty began rattling financial markets — was at least partly responsible for the subpar quarter.
Even so, eXp reported that its total revenue per agent had increased 7% compared to the same time last year.
The growth is the result of more expensive home sales and more productive agents, and it has reportedly offset some of the attrition. Hill said that on an annual basis, 77% of the agents who had exited the brand had between zero and two transactions the prior month.
EXp focuses on productivity, not agent count
Looking ahead, the brokerage says it’s focused on strengthening its agents’ skills and expanding internationally.
For one, there’s a focus on building teams to boost long-term productivity, according to Leo Pareja, CEO of eXp Realty.
“Over the last 18 months or so, we’ve really focused on attracting the most productive agents and teams,” he told investors Tuesday. “Agents on teams are 67% more productive than just individual agents.”
But bringing on teams means a longer onboarding cycle, so it could take time for the strategy's results to fully manifest, Pareja said.
“We’re seeing what this means for future agent count,” he said. “Not sure when we’ll make that turning point this year, but super excited about what more productive groups of agents mean to eXp long term.”