Movement Monday:  Which Brokerage Type is Winning the Talent Battle?

by | Mar 24, 2025

Recruiting Insight will soon publish a comprehensive study diagnosing the causes and results of recent agent movement across the industry.

The study segments the companies by brokerage types.  Here are the top four brokerage types evaluated:

Capped Revenue Share:  Brokerages that offer a capped commission plan plus additional income for recruiting other agents.

Traditional:  Brokerages with a traditional commission structure usually focus on in-person office environments.

Tech-Enabled:  Brokerages that try to leverage technology to enhance agent productivity and client service.

Flat Fee/Fee-Based:  Brokerages that charge agents a flat fee or a fee based on their production rather than a traditional commission split.

While these four brokerage types do not account for all brokerages models (and there is some crossover between the models), 88% of the firms we evaluated primarily fall into one of these four categories.

So which brokerage model is winning the battle to attract and retain the most agents?  

Capped Revenue Share models attracted 39% of the agents who were migrating, but they represented 41% of the agent losses.

Traditional models attracted 28% of the agents who were migrating, but they represented 29% of the agent losses.

Tech-Enabled models attracted 10% of the agents who were migrating, but they represented 8% of the agent losses.

Flat Fee/Fee-Based models attracted 20% of the agents who were migrating, but they represented 20% of the agent losses.

The Capped Revenue model attracts the most and the Tech-Enabled model is the best at retaining the agents they attract.

On a macro level, there is high churn in every model and opportunities abound for improvement in all areas.

On a micro level, the best recruiters are still the ones who create the biggest wins.

 

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