Big Brokers Increase Home Sales
Large real estate brokerage firms and national franchise organizations--including three franchise firms based in California--increased their domination of the nation’s home sales last year at the expense of small- to mid-sized firms, according to a survey conducted by a Dallas-based realty publication.
Despite a “slack year” for the real estate brokerage sector, the nation’s seven largest franchise organizations still grew 1.9 times faster during 1989 than did the industry as a whole, according to Laurie Moore, co-editor of REAL Trends newsletter.
The seven largest franchise organizations, led by Irvine-based Century 21, accounted for 32.9% of all U.S. home sale transactions involving real estate brokers last year, she said. The top seven franchise firms, together with the 25 largest residential brokerage concerns, grew 2.3% last year, reprsenting a combined market share of 38.1%.
“This growth of large individual firms and national franchise organizations in an essentially flat market indicates that the consolidation of the industry is continuing,” according to co-editor Stephen Murray.
Three of the seven largest franchise organizations are based in California: Century 21, by far the largest; third place Coldwell Banker Residential Group in Mission Viejo and sixth place Prudential Real Estate Affiliates in Costa Mesa.
The 25 largest non-franchised brokers include four California firms: 4th place Tarbell, Realtors, Santa Ana; 5th place Grubb & Ellis, San Francisco; 9th place Great Western Real Estate, Yorba Linda, and 16th place Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills.
FRANCHISE FIRMS’ MARKET SHARE IN 1989
Rank Transactions Share 1--Century 21, Irvine 765,000 10.2% 2--Re/Max, Englewood, 454,172 6.1 Colo. 3--Coldwell Banker 412,428 5.5 Res. Group, Mission Viejo 4--ERA, Overland Park, 257,992 3.4 Kan. 5--Better Homes & 236,000 3.2 Gardens, Des Moines, Iowa 6--Prudential Real Estate 190,011 2.5 Affiliates, Costa Mesa 7--Realty World, Fairfax, 146,062 2.0 Va.
SOURCE: REAL Trends, 1990.
LARGEST U.S. RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE FIRMS
Rank and Company Transactions Offices Agents 1--Long & Foster Real Estate, 40,182 174 5,400 Fairfax, Va. 2--Weichert Realtors Co., 37,600 201 5,000 Morris Plains, N.J. 3--Schlott Realtors, 36,117 140 4,600 Wayne, N.J. 4--Tarbell, Realtors, Santa Ana 24,210 58 3,000 5--Grubb & Ellis, San Francisco 22,000 75 2,184 6--Windermere Real Estate, 18,686 42 1,200 Seattle 7--Gundaker Realtors, BH&G;, 17,824 26 2,200 St. Louis 8--Realty One, Cleveland 17,192 50 1,595 9--Great Western R.E., 16,378 35 1,510 Yorba Linda, Calif. 10--Realty Executives, Phoenix 16,174 20 700 11--Mount Vernon Realty, 15,000 50 2,700 Alexandria, Va. 12--O’Conor, Piper & Flynn, 14,403 41 1,424 Baltimore 13--Shannon & Luchs Co., 14,100 58 1,900 Bethesda, Md. 14--The Keyes Co., Miami 13,550 40 1,400 15--John L. Scott Real Estate, 13,420 19 660 Seattle 16--Jon Douglas Co., 13,250 31 1,677 Beverly Hills 17--West Shell Inc., Cincinnati 12,066 30 749 18--Smythe, Cramer Co., 10,292 29 747 Cleveland 19--Watson Realty Corp., 10,058 45 829 Jacksonville, Fla. 20--William Ravels R.E., 10,000 45 1,400 Fairfield, Conn. 21--Northside Realty 9,665 27 850 Associates, Atlanta 22--Baird & Warner Real Estate, 9,327 33 675 Chicago 23--Iowa Realty Co., 8,087 32 494 W. Des Moines, Iowa 24--The Lutz Snyder Co., 7,732 55 575 Portland, Ore. 25--Fox & Lazo Inc., 7,600 24 825 Haddonfield, N.J.
SOURCE: REAL Trends Big Broker Report, 1990.
