RE/MAX Holdings, parent company of REMAX, on Feb. 19 announced mixed financial results for Q4 and year ended December 31, 2025, with revenue falling 1.8% year-over-year to $71.1 million. Despite the revenue dip and a 4.6% decline in U.S./Canada agent count, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.30 beat analyst estimates of $0.28. The company expects Q1 2026 revenue between $69-$74 million.
“Our strategy is working and is beginning to yield results even though 2025 marked the third consecutive year of a historically tough housing market in the United States and Canada,” said CEO Erik Carlson. “We exited 2025 with strong momentum across both of our networks, driven by record global agent count growth, our best fourth quarter U.S. agent performance since 2021 and a renewed excitement for the REMAX brand given enhancements to our overall value proposition.
“In January, we also saw the largest conversion in our history as nearly 1,200 agents led by visionary entrepreneurs chose to join our market-leading brand in Canada, an exciting start to the year.”
Carlson explained that in terms of housing data and consumer insights, despite a typically slow start of the year in January, REMAX continues to see the housing market normalizing in various ways, with inventory and new listings higher than a year ago.
“We also believe some recent policy proposals could prove to be constructive to housing if effectively implemented, including those aimed at increasing the inventory of single-family homes available to individual homebuyers, as well as those that aim to lower the 30-year mortgage rate,” he said. “Over time, we should also see the lock-in effect of low mortgage rates continue to ease. And the results of a recently published consumer survey show that despite delays caused by affordability and broader economic uncertainty, 88% of prospective buyers still say they are likely to purchase a home in 2026. Market conditions have slowed timelines, but not the underlying demand. Also, buyers said they are looking for more than a house.”
Getting back to the numbers, total operating expenses were $61.8 million for Q4, a decrease of $6.4 million, or 9.4%, compared to $68.2 million in Q4 2024. Q4 2025 total operating expenses decreased primarily due to lower settlement and impairment charges, marketing funds expenses, and depreciation and amortization expenses, partially offset by higher selling, operating and administrative expenses.
“Engagement throughout REMAX reflects growing enthusiasm for the recent strategic investments in our brand, including our Marketing as a Service and Lead Concierge platforms, reinforcing our confidence as we enter the year ahead,” added Carlson. “At the same time, we continue to operate the business with discipline, with fourth quarter profit and margin performance at the high end of our expectations. As signs of modest improvement in home sales activity are starting to emerge, we believe our networks are well positioned to capitalize on a recovering market, and we will continue to be laser-focused on supporting our networks to win more business, in less time, and more profitably.”
Following the Feb. 20 virtual press conference, investors posed questions. One concerned talk about the potential for AI-driven automation to change the industry. Carlson was asked if agents are feeling optimistic about AI, and how they are responding to the whole automation narrative.
“AI for the sake of AI is a mistake,” he responded. “We are trying to be very purposeful on how we deploy automation technology—obviously, some of that is AI. Our network, and real estate agents and brokerages in the industry, are very curious about it. There is a sense of, ‘Hey, I need to lean in.’ There is a sense of ‘I am scared of it.’ What we try to do at REMAX is be purposeful in our approach.
“You would be surprised how many agents still use email as a primary method to correspond with consumers, whether on the buy side or the sell side, and get business done. At a very high level, our purpose is to help agents win listings and win more business, do it in less time and make more money. And so when we think about AI, we think about how we can deploy AI to help achieve those goals.”
Asked about private listings, Carlson’s position was clear.
“With that discussion, our view really has not changed,” he said. “We feel like transparency and broadest distribution for listings give buyers and sellers the best outcome. As we have talked about a little bit before, we do have a vast network around the world. If there was a case where we had to participate in a broader private listing type network, the consumer comes first. We would be well prepared to do that.
“But philosophically, we think the MLS is the ultimate North Star, not only for our brand, but for our agents and our brokers serving buyers and sellers. And so we like the idea of transparency and the broadest distribution of listings.”
