Last year was filled with pressing difficulties in the real estate realm—throughout the United States and beyond—although virtual brokerage eXp was able to increase its Q4 revenue by 5%, a notable jump compared to the same period in 2022, amounting to $983 million year-over-year. Full-year revenue amassed $4.28 billion.
It’s worth highlighting, however, that the company posted a net loss of $21.2 million in Q4, which is a larger loss than the $7.2 million reported in Q4 2022. Additionally, the numbers representing 2023 in its entirety indicate a net loss of $9 million, while the year prior witnessed a net income of $15.4 million.
The continued results of eXp are crucial as they still prove profitable in a market filled with intricate twists and turns.
Pushing to take a leap in the technological real estate space using various platforms, and initiating creations powered by AI, eXp hopes that this approach will put them ahead of brokerages alike.
One browser-based platform that is being used by, and receiving praise from eXp, is Frame, a virtual office space in the metaverse operated through the Apple Vision Pro.
“Frame is actually the first platform that works on desktop, mobile and immersive hardware like the Meta Quest 3. And if you’re lucky enough to have one, the Apple Vision Pro, it’s kind of like Squarespace but for the spatial web. We’re really excited about the technology. In fact, it was presented by the CTO of Microsoft at Microsoft Build 2023, and Frame now powers exp.world,” said eXp World Holdings Founder, Chairman and CEO Glenn Sanford.
“It’s now our new browser-based immersive collaboration platform,” he continued. “It’s faster and easier for our staff and agents to collaborate online, and specifically, eXp agents can now create their own spaces and also meet with clients and even, in reality, give remote home tours. Agents can look at 360 photos of properties, walk around Matterport scans and navigate Google Street views with others. And then in terms of AI, which we’ve talked a little bit about, Frame actually uses AI to do real-time translations and closed captioning, but also to help people create their own custom spaces and 3D bots.”
Sanford also noted that moving forward, eXp looks to use AI to improve transaction management workflow, and believes that the brokerage will look to build a new way of transacting business in worldwide real estate.
Another distinctive program recently launched was Exclusives, used to create unique listings specific to eXp. According to Chief Strategy Officer Leo Pareja, over 7,000 agents have taken advantage of the program thus far.
“Exclusives was literally launched last quarter, and we’ve had over 7,000 agents use the application, creating hundreds of unique listings only specific to our ecosystem. We launched eXp Luxury with astounding results. Already, we’ve had over 1,100 agents in the program, and it began expanding globally. We’ve launched in five countries in 2023 with a plan to expand to every country in 2024.”
And yet, while it may seem like eXp is already ahead of the technological curve compared to other worldwide brokerages, they have a seemingly impressive—and first of its kind—app in beta: My eXp app, which aims to grant easy access to agents and their commissions, settlements, revenue share and various other eXp services.
Key takeaways:
- Q4 revenue jumped 5%, reaching $983 million
- Q4 net loss: $21.2 million—Q4 net loss was 7.2 million in 2022
- 2023 net loss: $9 million, while the full-year net income in 2022 was $15.4 million
- Q4 adjusted EBITDA: $542,000, down from $3.6 million in Q4 2022
- Full-year adjusted EBITDA: decreased to $57.5 million from $60.5 million
- eXp Realty agent and broker count increased 2% year-over year to 87,515
- Transactions decreased to 494,404 in 2023—down 3%—and increased to 115,424 year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2023—up 6%
- eXp is partnered with Frame, the metaverse “browser-based immersive collaboration platform”
- eXp Exclusives program was launched
- My eXp app in beta
What the company is saying:
“eXp delivered solid revenue in the fourth quarter, despite continued weakness in the United States residential real estate market, thanks to our global base of highly productive agents,” said Sanford. “Our agent-centric model and value proposition, scale and superior efficiency enable us to invest in the success of our agents.
“In fact, agent loyalty, as measured by agent Net Promoter Score (aNPS), reached record levels for both the fourth quarter and full-year 2023. We will continue to iterate on the agent value proposition through our ongoing commitment to agent-centric innovation, with a particular focus on enhancing agent support and reducing time spent on non-revenue-generating, repetitive tasks. From onboarding, to support, to real-time payments and more, we are utilizing next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence to streamline core business processes to enable our agents to reach their goals faster than ever before.”
“Despite a challenged real estate market, we continued to gain marketshare during the fourth quarter of 2023 and maintained positive Adjusted EBITDA1,” said Kent Cheng, principal financial officer of eXp World Holdings. “And while our decision to offboard a significant number of unproductive agents during the fourth quarter resulted in a decrease in our agent count quarter-over-quarter, the retention of our most productive agent cohorts remained excellent, and our fourth quarter revenue increased 5% year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, we also took several strategic actions to improve our profitability, with expected benefits to revenue and operating expenses in 2024. Our automation and other cost-savings initiatives, combined with recent revenue enhancements, represent a potential $20 million annualized benefit to our future operating results. We will remain vigilant on costs and focused on increasing our operational flexibility in light of current uncertainties in the industry.
“Looking ahead, we plan to fund continued investments in agent productivity through ongoing efficiency initiatives. I am confident that eXp will emerge from the current market downturn in a strong position to capitalize on future market growth opportunities and deliver accelerated growth as the residential real estate market recovers.”
