Real Estate Franchise Statistics: Offices, Fees and SBA Loans (2026)

Real estate franchise statistics: how franchised is brokerage?

Summary. Offices of real estate agents and brokers (NAICS 531210) were the fifth-largest franchise industry by establishment count in the 2017 Economic Census, with 21,529 franchise offices. Franchise offices were still a minority: 17.7% of the 121,906 brokerage offices, but they took in 29.4% of brokerage receipts.

Franchise share of offices, United States: 20.1% in 2007, 16.9% in 2012 and 17.7% in 2017, according to the Census Bureau’s franchise tabulations (2007, 2012, 2017). Franchise share of receipts moved from 28.9% (2007) to 25.0% (2012) to 29.4% (2017).

The number of franchise brokerage offices fell 2.2% between 2007 and 2017, while all brokerage offices grew 11.4%. The 2012 count (14,588 franchise offices of 86,095) is the low point of the three counts.

In the 2017 ranking of tabulated six-digit industries by number of franchise establishments, real estate brokerage ranked 5th, behind limited-service restaurants, full-service restaurants, hotels and motels, and new car dealers (Census Bureau, 2021). Brokerage held 4.3% of the 498,234 franchise establishments in the 6-digit tabulation. By share rather than count, brokerage is not near the top: neighboring residential property managers (NAICS 531311) were 1.5% franchised in 2017.

The 2017 figures are the latest. The 2022 Economic Census asked the franchise question, but the only franchise table in the 2022 release schedule is a Puerto Rico retail table (Census release schedule). There is no 2022 franchise-status tabulation for the United States, so no newer office-level franchise count exists from Census.

Comparability. A Census machine-learning review raised the unweighted number of franchise-affiliated establishments in the 2017 Economic Census by 22% to 42% across covered industries (Staudt and Wei, CES-WP-19-20). Part of the 2012 to 2017 rise may therefore be better measurement, not more franchising. Response coverage of the franchise question in brokerage was 65.7% of sales in 2012 and 69.5% in 2007; 2017 publishes only a coded range.

Other measures give other shares, because they count different things. The Annual Business Survey counts firms, not offices: in reference year 2023 (2024 ABS), 3,740 of 78,162 reporting brokerage firms (NAICS 5312), or 4.8%, operated all or part of the business as a franchise; those firms held 10.4% of employment and 11.5% of receipts among reporting firms (Census ABS). The firm share was 5.1% in 2020, 5.3% in 2021 and 5.1% in 2022; differences of a few tenths are within the published standard errors. The National Association of REALTORS counts people: 38% of its members were affiliated with a franchise company in 2025, the same share as in 2012 (NAR, 2025); NAR’s 2025 Member Profile summary puts the figure at 40% (NAR Field Guide). NAR’s 2025 Profile of Real Estate Firms found 87% of member firms were independent non-franchised and 10% independent franchised firms (data year 2024, 4,672 responses) (NAR, 2025).

Read together, these sources describe one structure: a small share of firms and under one in five offices are franchised, yet franchised offices are larger, and 38% to 41% of NAR members and sales agents work at franchised firms. The years (2017 to 2025) and units (offices, firms, members) differ, so the shares are not interchangeable.

Franchisee-owned offices and size versus independents

Summary. Most franchise brokerage offices are owned by franchisees, not by the franchisor. In 2017, franchise offices reported about twice the receipts per office of non-franchise offices, slightly more paid employees per office, and lower payroll per office.

Franchisee-owned offices were 86.1% of franchise brokerage offices in 2017 (18,542 franchisee-owned and 2,987 franchisor-owned), compared with 87.1% in 2012 and 89.4% in 2007 (Census, 2017).

Receipts per office, United States, 2017: 1,541,186 dollars at franchise offices and 794,540 dollars at non-franchise offices, a ratio of 1.94. The ratio was 1.63 in 2012 and 1.62 in 2007. Franchisee-owned offices averaged 1,634,013 dollars of receipts per office, franchisor-owned offices 964,960 dollars.

Paid employees per office, 2017: 2.93 at franchise offices and 2.65 at non-franchise offices. Payroll per office was 147,774 dollars at franchise offices and 171,847 dollars at non-franchise offices. Payroll equaled 9.6% of receipts at franchise offices and 21.6% at non-franchise offices.

What the payroll gap means. Census payroll and employee counts cover employees only. Agents at brokerages usually work as independent contractors: Anywhere’s 10-K describes commission splits set by “independent contractor agreements” with “independent sales agents” (Anywhere 10-K, FY2024). Commission paid to contractor agents is therefore not in payroll, so the payroll-to-receipts gap likely reflects in part how offices pay agents; Census data cannot separate the causes. The “non-franchise” group also includes offices that did not answer the franchise question.

What public franchisor filings say: agents, offices and fees

Summary. Two listed companies reported brokerage franchise data to the SEC through 2025: RE/MAX Holdings and Anywhere Real Estate. Both have since stopped filing after mergers. Their filings show shrinking U.S. agent counts from 2021 or 2022 to 2025 and two different fee designs: fixed fees per agent at RE/MAX and a percentage of commission income at Anywhere’s brands.

RE/MAX. RE/MAX reported 48,165 U.S. agents at the end of 2025, down 21.5% from 61,327 at the end of 2021, and 47,170 at June 30, 2026 (RE/MAX 10-K, FY2025; 10-Q, Q2 2026). U.S. open offices fell 15.7%, from 3,534 to 2,978, over 2021 to 2025. Agents per U.S. office went from 17.4 to 16.2. Worldwide, RE/MAX counted 148,660 agents at the end of 2025.

RE/MAX describes its recurring revenue as fixed contractual fees paid monthly based on the number of agents, plus annual dues paid by agents; these made up 65.5% of revenue excluding marketing funds in 2025. Broker fees, “generally 1%” of real estate commissions, made up 24.5%. The company recommends a 95%/5% agent-to-office commission split in exchange for fixed fees.

Anywhere (Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Sotheby’s International Realty, Corcoran). Anywhere’s franchise systems and its own brokerages had about 179,200 U.S. independent sales agents at the end of 2024, down from 195,000 at the end of 2022, and about 5,300 U.S. offices (Anywhere 10-K, FY2024; FY2022). Removing Anywhere’s company-owned brokerages leaves about 126,300 agents in 4,720 franchised offices, or 26.8 agents per franchised office; agents at franchised offices fell 6.6% from 2022 to 2024.

Anywhere stated that franchisees generally pay an initial fee plus a royalty that is a percentage of gross commission income, with several models: a volume-incentive model that starts at 6% of gross commission income, flat-percentage deals “generally less than 6%”, a capped model at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (5% capped per agent per year), and tiered models at Corcoran (6% down to 4%) and Coldwell Banker (5.5% down to 3%). New domestic franchise agreements generally run 10 years.

Filing status. Compass completed its merger with Anywhere on January 9, 2026; Anywhere’s last 10-K covers fiscal 2024 and it filed Form 15 on January 20, 2026 (Anywhere 8-K; EDGAR index). Compass’s 10-K for fiscal 2025 describes a combined network of more than 340,000 real estate professionals and franchise agreements with a minimum term of ten years (Compass 10-K, FY2025). RE/MAX Holdings completed mergers into Real REMAX Group Inc. (a transaction with The Real Brokerage Inc.) on August 24, 2026 and filed Form 15 on September 4, 2026; its last 10-K covers fiscal 2025 (RE/MAX 8-K; EDGAR index). Keller Williams, HomeSmart, Realty ONE Group and the other brands in this report are privately held and publish no SEC filings, so their data here comes from FDDs.

For unit growth across all listed franchisors, see public franchisor unit growth; this report does not repeat that series.

Fees, Item 7 and terms in 11 real estate FDDs (2026)

Summary. Of 11 real estate brokerage FDDs issued in 2026 and filed in Minnesota, 7 set the main ongoing fee as a percentage of gross commission income (the brokerage’s revenue), 3 charge no percentage royalty at all and use flat fees per agent and per transaction, and 1 (RE/MAX) combines fixed per-agent fees with a 1% broker fee. Only three of the seven percentage models are a plain flat rate; the other four are capped per agent or step down with volume.

Initial fees. The median standard initial franchise fee across the 11 FDDs was 25,000 dollars (range 10,000 to 35,000). Several franchisors state they waive or reduce it for conversions: Century 21’s FDD says the main-office fee is waived under its sales incentive program as of the issuance date, and 2025 fees paid at Anywhere brands ranged from 0 dollars to the full fee (Minnesota CARDS).

Ongoing fees, as filed.

• Percentage of commission income: Century 21, ERA and Sotheby’s International Realty charge 6% of gross revenue, with rebate programs; Coldwell Banker starts at 5.5% and declines as revenue grows; Engel & Volkers steps from 6% down to 3.75% with a 60,000 dollar minimum annual royalty.
• Percentage with a per-agent cap: Keller Williams charges 6% of gross commission income capped at 3,000 dollars per associate per year, so the cap binds at 50,000 dollars of commission income per associate; Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate charges 5% capped at 6,250 dollars per agent, binding at 125,000 dollars.
• Fixed per agent plus 1%: RE/MAX’s continuing franchise fee, marketing fee and annual dues add up to 3,650 to 4,130 dollars per agent per year before the 1% broker fee.
• No percentage royalty: Realty ONE Group charges 60 dollars per agent per month (720 dollars a year) plus a per-transaction fee; NextHome charges 200 to 210 dollars per non-team agent per month (2,400 to 2,520 dollars a year) plus per-transaction fees; HomeSmart charges the greater of 12 dollars per agent per month plus 120 dollars per completed side, or 500 dollars a month.

Item 7. The median low estimate of initial investment was 37,100 dollars and the median high estimate 286,100 dollars, using the conversion-office table where an FDD gives separate conversion and start-up tables. Opening a new start-up office costs more: the Anywhere-brand start-up tables run from 115,470 dollars (low end, Coldwell Banker and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate) to 521,775 dollars (high end, Coldwell Banker). For all sectors, see franchise initial investment and franchise costs.

Term. 8 of the 11 FDDs set a 10-year initial term. RE/MAX and Keller Williams use 5 years, and NextHome lets the franchisee choose 1 or 5 years.

Outlets. Franchised outlets across the 11 FDDs fell 4.2%, from 7,361 at the end of fiscal 2023 to 7,054 at the end of fiscal 2025. Realty ONE Group and HomeSmart grew; the Anywhere brands, RE/MAX’s integrated-regions entity, Keller Williams, NextHome and Engel & Volkers shrank. Each FDD covers one franchisor entity, so these counts are not whole-network totals.

The site’s 259-brand FDD sample includes only one real estate brokerage brand (Sotheby’s International Realty); its coded values in the royalty and agreement terms datasets match the FDD read here. The other ten FDDs were pulled from Minnesota CARDS for this report. This report covers brokerage-specific terms only; how royalties compare across sectors is in how franchisors make money.

SBA lending to real estate franchises

Summary. Brokerages rarely borrow through SBA programs. Offices of real estate agents and brokers received 4,900 SBA 7(a) and 504 loans from FY2010 to June 30, 2026, or 0.47% of all such loans, while they make up 1.34% of private establishments (BLS QCEW, 2025). Of those brokerage loans, 527 (10.8%) were franchise-coded, worth 279,488,900 dollars in total.

Loan size, FY2010 to June 30, 2026, United States (SBA FOIA, as of 2026-06-30): the median franchise-coded brokerage loan was 320,000 dollars, against 100,000 dollars for non-franchise brokerage loans and 350,000 dollars for franchise-coded loans in all industries. The 7(a) program accounts for 314 franchise-coded brokerage loans (median 209,700 dollars) and the 504 program for 213 (median 480,000 dollars).

Lending intensity: in FY2025 there were 2.7 SBA loans per 1,000 brokerage establishments, against 7.2 per 1,000 private establishments in all industries, a ratio of 0.38 (BLS QCEW). The loan files do not show why brokerage owners borrow less.

The coding gap. Franchise coding in the SBA files depends on the SBA Franchise Directory. SBA discontinued the directory in 2023 and reinstituted it with SOP 50 10 8, effective June 1, 2025 (SBA Information Notice 5000-866746). The franchise-coded share of brokerage loans fell from 18.8% in FY2021 to 3.2% in FY2025 and recovered to 8.4% in FY2026 to date. That drop is a reporting artifact, not a fall in franchise borrowing. In the clean FY2018 to FY2023 window, 13.6% of brokerage loans were franchise-coded, about 45.7 loans a year. Lender-entered NAICS codes and franchise codes are not audited, and brand names are free text.

RE/MAX names appear on the most franchise-coded brokerage loans, followed by Keller Williams, Century 21 and Coldwell Banker (scripts/out/sba_brands.csv). Brand counts are small and say nothing about loan outcomes. For SBA lending to all franchises, see SBA franchise loans and the SBA Franchise Directory tracker.

How a brokerage owner can read a real estate FDD

Summary. The 11 FDDs show that the headline royalty rate says little on its own. The fee base, caps, minimums, per-agent charges and incentive rebates decide what a brokerage pays. These are points to check in the document, not advice on whether to sign.

1. Item 6, fee base. Check whether the royalty is a percentage of gross commission income, a flat fee per agent, a fee per transaction, or a mix. In this set, 7 of 11 use a percentage base, 3 use none, and 1 combines per-agent fees with 1%.
2. Item 6, caps and tiers. A per-agent cap (Keller Williams, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate) or a declining tier (Coldwell Banker, Engel & Volkers) changes the effective rate for high-producing offices.
3. Item 6, minimums. Minimum royalties appear in several FDDs, for example 500 dollars a month at Century 21, 886 dollars a month at ERA, a 60,000 dollar annual minimum at Engel & Volkers, and a 1,200 dollar monthly minimum agent fee at Realty ONE Group after the first year.
4. Items 5 and 10, incentives. Initial fees are often waived or financed for conversions; the FDD says when and how incentives can be clawed back.
5. Item 7, which table. Converting an existing office and opening a new one have separate tables in most of these FDDs; the start-up total is much higher.
6. Item 17, term and renewal. Terms range from 1 to 10 years in this set, and some agreements grant no renewal right.
7. Item 20, outlets. Compare openings, closures and transfers over three years, and note which franchisor entity the table covers.
8. Item 19. Financial performance representations, if any, are in Item 19; this report does not summarize them.

More on reading the document is in buying a franchise. This page is not legal, tax or investment advice.