AI Moves From Promising to Business-Critical for Real Estate Brokerages, Survey Finds

Delta Media reports AI’s importance to brokerage leaders jumps over 30% as use expands

CANTON, Ohio, Sept. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The importance of artificial intelligence to real estate brokerage leaders has jumped more than 30% since 2024, according to Delta Media Real Estate AI surveys. Leaders rated AI’s importance at 5.45 out of 10 in 2024, compared with 7.12 today, while its expected importance over the next 12 to 18 months rises to 8.25 out of 10.

A three-year look back at Delta Media’s Real Estate AI Survey data shows how quickly AI has moved from a promising technology to a core business capability for brokerages. In 2024, leaders were still weighing where AI fit into their businesses. By 2026, the survey shows brokerages moving AI deeper into CRM systems, workflow automation, back-office operations, recruiting, training, and other core functions.

“The big story today isn’t whether real estate is using AI. We knew that after the first survey we did in 2024,” said Michael Minard, CEO and owner of Delta Media Group. “What has changed is how important brokerage leaders believe AI has become to their businesses. The increase in just two years is a major shift, and when leaders look ahead, the importance score rises even higher. AI is quickly moving from something brokerages use to something they are beginning to build their businesses around.”

Nearly all, 97%, of the brokerage leaders surveyed report that their agents are using AI today. But the latest findings suggest the more important story is what comes next: brokerages are moving AI beyond individual productivity tools and into the technology, workflows and business functions that support the entire organization.

AI moves deeper into the brokerage

Delta Media’s AI survey data show a striking progression in both the perceived importance of AI and where brokerage leaders expect to use it.

• AI moves from promising to business-critical: In 2024, brokerage leaders rated AI’s importance at 5.45 out of 10 today and 7.02 when looking to the near future. In 2025, those ratings rose to 5.9 today and 7.2 for the future. In 2026, leaders rate AI’s current importance at 7.12 out of 10, rising to 8.25 when looking ahead. Using the underlying survey averages, AI’s current importance has increased more than 30% since 2024, indicating AI has evolved from a promising technology to an essential business capability.
• Administrative AI goes from prediction to priority: In 2024, only 23% of leaders expected AI to be used for front-office or administrative support. In 2026, 53% of brokerage leaders say they plan to adopt or expand AI for administrative and back-office automation, more than double the level anticipated just two years ago.
• Brokerages are moving AI into the systems that run their businesses: More than half of 2026 respondents plan to expand AI for CRM enhancement and workflow automation, at 55%, while 53% cite administrative and back-office automation and 52% cite agent recruiting, training and performance coaching. Another 50% plan to adopt or expand agentic AI tools capable of automating tasks. That is a notable progression from 2024, when brokerage leaders’ future AI plans were dominated by digital marketing at 73% and social media at 72%.
• AI is becoming part of brokerage strategy, not simply agent productivity: Half of brokerage leaders, 50%, plan to adopt or expand agentic AI tools this year. Nearly half plan to expand AI for business intelligence, forecasting and predictive analytics (49%), document summaries and contract review (48%), market analysis and property valuations (46%), and client communication automation (45%).

The shift is particularly notable because many of these applications barely figured into the AI conversation when Delta Media began surveying brokerage leaders in 2024. At that time, the most anticipated uses centered overwhelmingly on content creation and marketing. The 2026 results show brokerage leaders preparing to deploy AI much more broadly across the business.

“We’re watching AI move from the edges of the brokerage toward the center,” Minard said. “Marketing and content were natural places to start because the benefits were easy to see. Now leaders are looking at CRM workflows, administrative automation, forecasting, training and even agentic AI. These are decisions that can change how their entire brokerage operates.”

From individual AI tools to brokerage-wide capabilities

Minard points out that the breadth of planned AI use is growing more important than the popularity of any single application as brokerage leaders now are looking across nearly every major business function.

“Three years ago, when you talked to brokers and agents about AI in real estate, they were talking about AI creating listing descriptions,” Minard said. “That conversation is completely different today. Brokerage leaders are looking at AI across virtually every part of their businesses. The opportunity now is figuring out where AI really delivers value, how all these capabilities work together and how you deploy them in a way that makes a brokerage better.”

The emergence of agentic AI is another sign of that transition. The 2026 survey is the first in Delta Media’s three-year series to ask leaders specifically about agentic AI, reflecting the rise of AI systems designed not simply to generate an answer or piece of content but to carry out tasks on a user’s behalf. Half of brokerage leaders say they plan to adopt or expand their use of agentic AI tools in 2026.

The annual Delta Media AI Survey has become the most definitive benchmark for understanding how real estate brokerage leaders and their agents are using artificial intelligence. Conducted by Delta Media Group, a leading technology partner to more than 80 LeadingRE Affiliates and over 50 top-ranked brokerages nationwide, the survey provides an in-depth profile of real estate’s current AI landscape and future trajectory based on responses from over 100 top brokerage leaders representing firms responsible for more than two-thirds of all U.S. real estate transactions in 2025. Discover more at Delta’s new website at deltamediagroup.com.

Media contact:
Kevin Hawkins (206) 866-1220
kevin@wavgroup.com

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