Data Roundup · 2026

AI in Real Estate: Statistics You Need to Know in 2026

By Shehram Baig Founder, BaigOps Last updated: July 17, 2026

How many agents, brokerages, and property managers actually use AI, what the valuation models get right (and badly wrong), how slowly leads really get answered, and where the proptech money went — compiled from NAR, JLL, Deloitte, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, SEC filings, and primary surveys. Where reputable sources disagree, all figures are shown; stats that couldn't be traced to a verifiable primary source were left out.

Key Statistics

The most-cited AI in real estate numbers in one place — the fuller picture, with the disagreements between sources, is in the sections below.

  1. 97% of brokerage leaders report their agents now use AI, up from 80% in 2024, per Delta Media's December 2025 survey of more than 100 brokerage leaders representing roughly two-thirds of U.S. real estate transactions. (Source: Delta Media, 2026 Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey (via GlobeNewswire), 2026)
  2. Only 6% of Realtors use predictive analytics in their business, one of the lowest adoption rates of any technology NAR tracks. (Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025)
  3. The nationwide median error rate of Zillow's Zestimate is 1.94% for on-market homes but 7.06% for off-market homes (accuracy tables last updated March 2, 2025). (Source: Zillow, Zestimate accuracy page, 2025)
  4. 48% of online buyer inquiries to real estate brokers were never responded to at all, in a mystery-shop study of 384 brokers across 11 states (2014 — the most-cited baseline study of real estate lead response). (Source: WAV Group / Weichert Lead Network, Agent Responsiveness Study, 2014)
  5. AI can automate 37% of tasks in real estate, representing $34 billion in operating efficiencies by 2030, based on Morgan Stanley Research's analysis of 162 REIT and CRE firms with a combined $92 billion of labor costs and 525,000 employees. (Source: Morgan Stanley Research, 'How AI Is Reshaping Real Estate' (July 2, 2025), 2025)
  6. $16.7 billion was invested globally in proptech and adjacent real estate technology companies in 2025, a 67.9% increase over 2024 and above the roughly $14 billion invested in 2019, per Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation (CRETI) data. (Source: CRETI, via Multifamily Dive (January 13, 2026), 2025)
  7. Despite near-universal AI piloting in commercial real estate, only 5% of occupiers say they have achieved all of their AI program goals, while 47% have met two or three goals. (Source: JLL, 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey, 2025)
  8. 88% of real estate investors, owners and landlords and 92% of occupiers have started piloting AI — up from fewer than 5% in July 2023 — according to JLL's survey of 1,500+ senior CRE decision-makers across 16 markets. (Source: JLL, 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey, 2025)

Adoption & Usage

Every survey agrees adoption is climbing fast — they disagree wildly on the level, because they ask different people different questions.

97% of brokerage leaders report their agents now use AI, up from 80% in 2024, per Delta Media's December 2025 survey of more than 100 brokerage leaders representing roughly two-thirds of U.S. real estate transactions.— Delta Media, 2026 Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey (via GlobeNewswire), 2026
  1. 20% of Realtors use AI tools daily and 22% weekly, while 32% have not actively tried AI for their business, per NAR's survey of 49,233 invited members (1,241 usable responses, July 2025). (Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025)
  2. 46% of Realtors use AI-generated content (such as listing descriptions) and 21% use a CRM with AI-powered insights, versus 79% who use eSignature, the most-used technology. (Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025)
  3. Only 17% of Realtors say AI has had a significantly positive impact on their business, while 33% report a moderately positive impact and 46% see no noticeable impact. (Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025)
  4. ChatGPT is the most popular AI platform among Realtors at 58%, followed by Google Gemini (20%) and Microsoft Copilot (15%). (Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025)
  5. In RPR's survey of 225 real estate professionals (published February 2026), 82% currently use AI in their business, 92% are using or planning to use it, and 68% use AI daily or several times per week. (Source: Realtors Property Resource (RPR) AI Survey, 2026)
  6. 82% of agents use AI to write listing descriptions (up from 58% in 2024) and 74% use it for content creation such as blogs, social posts and email campaigns. (Source: Delta Media, 2026 Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey (via GlobeNewswire), 2026)
  7. 88% of real estate investors, owners and landlords and 92% of occupiers have started piloting AI — up from fewer than 5% in July 2023 — according to JLL's survey of 1,500+ senior CRE decision-makers across 16 markets. (Source: JLL, 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey, 2025)
  8. In Deloitte's survey of more than 850 CRE C-level executives across 13 countries (June-July 2025), 19% say they remain in the early stages of their AI journey and 27% report challenges with AI implementation, including technical issues, lack of expertise or resistance to change. (Source: Deloitte, 2026 Commercial Real Estate Outlook, 2025)
  9. 34% of property management professionals were using AI in 2025, up from 21% in 2024, with another 29% planning to adopt it. (Source: AppFolio, 2025 Property Management Benchmark Report (via National Apartment Association), 2025)

Who's using AI in real estate — survey by survey

SurveyWho was askedKey finding
NAR Technology Survey, 20251,241 Realtors20% use AI daily; 32% haven't tried it
RPR AI Survey, 2026225 real estate professionals82% use AI; 68% daily or several times weekly
Delta Media, 2026100+ brokerage leaders97% report their agents use AI
JLL Global RE Tech Survey, 20251,500+ senior CRE decision-makers88% of investors/owners piloting AI
AppFolio Benchmark, 2025US property management professionals34% using AI, up from 21% in 2024

Self-selected tech-engaged samples (RPR) and leadership perception (Delta Media) run hotter than randomized member surveys (NAR). The spread is real, not an error.

AI Valuation & Market Forecasting

The section journalists ask about most: how accurate the models actually are — and what happened when the best-funded player bet its balance sheet on them.

The nationwide median error rate of Zillow's Zestimate is 1.94% for on-market homes but 7.06% for off-market homes (accuracy tables last updated March 2, 2025).— Zillow, Zestimate accuracy page, 2025
  1. Zillow has data for over 123 million U.S. homes and publishes AI-driven Zestimates for 116 million of them, using a neural-network valuation model. (Source: Zillow, Zestimate accuracy page, 2025)
  2. The Redfin Estimate has a median error rate of 1.85% for on-market homes and 7.25% for off-market homes across 92 million U.S. homes (updated September 2025). (Source: Redfin, Redfin Estimate accuracy page, 2025)
  3. Zillow shut down its algorithm-driven iBuying arm Zillow Offers in November 2021 'in light of home pricing unpredictability,' recording a $304.4 million inventory write-down for Q3 2021 after buying homes at prices above its own estimates of future selling prices, and cutting roughly 25% of its workforce. (Source: Zillow Group Form 8-K, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (November 2, 2021), 2021)
  4. Only 6% of Realtors use predictive analytics in their business, one of the lowest adoption rates of any technology NAR tracks. (Source: National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025)
  5. 63% of real estate professionals cite accuracy of AI outputs as their top concern about using AI. (Source: Realtors Property Resource (RPR) AI Survey, 2026)
  6. Despite near-universal AI piloting in commercial real estate, only 5% of occupiers say they have achieved all of their AI program goals, while 47% have met two or three goals. (Source: JLL, 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey, 2025)

Home-valuation AI: error rates with vs without listing data

Sources: Zillow Zestimate accuracy page (updated March 2025); Redfin Estimate accuracy page (updated September 2025). Median absolute error — accuracy roughly quadruples in difficulty the moment listing data disappears.

Lead Response & Speed-to-Lead

Forecasting aside, the most expensive AI-solvable problem in real estate is much more mundane: nobody answers the leads.

48% of online buyer inquiries to real estate brokers were never responded to at all, in a mystery-shop study of 384 brokers across 11 states (2014 — the most-cited baseline study of real estate lead response).— WAV Group / Weichert Lead Network, Agent Responsiveness Study, 2014
  1. The average agent response time to an online buyer inquiry was 917 minutes (15.29 hours), with an average of only 1.5 call-back attempts and 2.07 email attempts per lead. (Source: WAV Group / Weichert Lead Network, Agent Responsiveness Study, 2014)
  2. By contrast, Weichert's centralized lead-response contact center responded to 100% of buyer inquiries with an average response time of 3 minutes — the model that AI responders now replicate. (Source: WAV Group / Weichert Lead Network, Agent Responsiveness Study, 2014)
  3. Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited even an hour longer — and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or more (study of 1.25 million sales leads). (Source: Harvard Business Review, 'The Short Life of Online Sales Leads' (Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington), 2011)
  4. In an audit of 2,241 U.S. companies, only 37% responded to a web-generated test lead within an hour, 23% never responded at all, and the average response time among responders was 42 hours. (Source: Harvard Business Review, 'The Short Life of Online Sales Leads' (Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington), 2011)
  5. Property management companies using AppFolio's Realm-X Flows AI automation achieve a 73% higher lead-to-showing conversion rate than those not using it (vendor-reported). (Source: AppFolio, Realm-X AI agents announcement (June 11, 2025), 2025)

This is the operational gap AI responders exist to close — more on how that works for brokerages, property managers, and investors at AI automation for real estate operators.

Operational ROI & Time Savings

What operators report getting back — with vendor-reported numbers labeled as such.

AI can automate 37% of tasks in real estate, representing $34 billion in operating efficiencies by 2030, based on Morgan Stanley Research's analysis of 162 REIT and CRE firms with a combined $92 billion of labor costs and 525,000 employees.— Morgan Stanley Research, 'How AI Is Reshaping Real Estate' (July 2, 2025), 2025
  1. Real estate companies working with McKinsey have seen gains of over 10 percent or more in net operating income through AI-enabled operating models, stronger customer experience, tenant retention, new revenue streams and smarter asset selection. (Source: McKinsey & Company, 'Generative AI can change real estate' (November 2023), 2023)
  2. One self-storage company reduced on-property labor hours by 30% through AI-powered staffing optimization. (Source: Morgan Stanley Research, 'How AI Is Reshaping Real Estate', 2025)
  3. A residential real estate firm lowered full-time employee count by 15% since 2021 using AI, while reporting increased productivity and higher satisfaction among both customers and staff. (Source: Morgan Stanley Research, 'How AI Is Reshaping Real Estate', 2025)
  4. 68% of real estate professionals who use AI save at least 1 hour per week, and 34% save 4 or more hours per week. (Source: Realtors Property Resource (RPR) AI Survey, 2026)
  5. Users of AppFolio's Realm-X AI report saving an average of 10 hours weekly on tasks on their to-do lists (vendor-reported). (Source: AppFolio, Realm-X AI agents announcement (June 11, 2025), 2025)
  6. Property management firms that have broadly adopted AI expect an average portfolio growth of 31% in 2026 — nearly triple the 12% anticipated by non-adopters — per a survey of 1,617 U.S. property management professionals (September-November 2025). (Source: AppFolio, 2026 Property Management Benchmark Report, 2026)

Voice, Chat & Communications Automation

Content generation is mainstream; conversational automation is still early — which is exactly why the gap is interesting.

Only 7% of Realtors use chatbots for lead capture or client communication, despite 46% using AI-generated content.— National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025
  1. One self-storage operator reports that 85% of its customer interactions now occur through self-selected digital options rather than on-site staff. (Source: Morgan Stanley Research, 'How AI Is Reshaping Real Estate', 2025)
  2. EliseAI claims its conversational AI automates 90% of leasing conversations for multifamily operators (vendor claim, not independently verified). (Source: EliseAI, 2026)
  3. EliseAI's conversational AI platform is used by more than 700 of the top property management companies. (Source: EliseAI, 2026)
  4. AppFolio's Realm-X Messages AI saves property management users an average of 26 seconds per message, with its Leasing Performer agent autonomously answering property inquiries and scheduling showings (vendor-reported). (Source: AppFolio, Realm-X AI agents announcement (June 11, 2025), 2025)

PropTech Investment & Funding

Three respected trackers, three different 2025 totals — the scope differences matter, so all three are shown.

$16.7 billion was invested globally in proptech and adjacent real estate technology companies in 2025, a 67.9% increase over 2024 and above the roughly $14 billion invested in 2019, per Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation (CRETI) data.— CRETI, via Multifamily Dive (January 13, 2026), 2025
  1. Crunchbase counts $10.2 billion in seed- through growth-stage venture funding for real estate tech in 2025, with deal count down 58.3% from the 2021 peak of 2,722 deals. (Source: Crunchbase News (December 23, 2025), 2025)
  2. Wells Fargo Technology Banking projected $16.5 billion in total 2025 proptech funding, a decline from $19.4 billion in 2024. (Source: Wells Fargo, via Commercial Observer (December 9, 2025), 2025)
  3. AI leasing-automation company EliseAI raised a $250 million Series E at a $2.25 billion valuation in August 2025, one of the year's largest proptech rounds. (Source: Crunchbase News, 2025)
  4. EliseAI surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025, a marker of AI-native proptech reaching commercial scale. (Source: Commercial Observer (December 9, 2025), 2025)
  5. Homebuilding startup Homebound raised $400 million in December 2025 on the strength of a proprietary AI platform that manages millions of data points across more than 1,000 distinct homebuilding tasks. (Source: Crunchbase News, 2025)
  6. 87% of commercial real estate organizations report increased real estate technology budgets driven by AI, with strategic advisory, cyber/data security and AI infrastructure the top spending priorities. (Source: JLL, 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey, 2025)

2025 proptech funding, by tracker

Tracker2025 totalScope & trend
CRETI$16.7BBroad (incl. construction tech, debt) — up 67.9% YoY
Wells Fargo Technology Banking$16.5BTotal proptech — down from $19.4B in 2024
Crunchbase$10.2BSeed-through-growth VC only — deal count down 58.3% from 2021 peak

Same year, three answers: CRETI counts categories and instruments the others exclude, and Crunchbase counts only venture rounds.

Market Size & Growth

Market-sizing here needs a caveat: depending on the definition, the “AI in real estate” market for 2026 is either $405 billion or $544 million — a three-orders-of-magnitude gap. Both are shown.

The global AI in real estate market is projected to grow from $301.58 billion in 2025 to $404.9 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 34.3%.— The Business Research Company, AI In Real Estate Global Market Report 2026, 2026
  1. The AI in real estate market is projected to reach $1,303.09 billion by 2030, growing at a 33.9% CAGR from 2026. (Source: The Business Research Company, AI In Real Estate Global Market Report 2026, 2026)
  2. The generative AI in real estate market is estimated at $488.06 million in 2025, rising to $544.29 million in 2026. (Source: Precedence Research, Generative AI in Real Estate Market, 2026)
  3. Generative AI in real estate is forecast to reach approximately $1,427.36 million by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 11.33% from 2026 to 2035. (Source: Precedence Research, Generative AI in Real Estate Market, 2026)

Future Projections

The consensus direction is unambiguous even where the numbers spread: more automation, more agentic AI, more budget.

Automation, including AI applied to knowledge work, could unlock roughly $430 billion to $550 billion (in 2024 dollars) in annual value globally across real estate, construction and development, per a McKinsey Global Institute labor-productivity analysis of 48 countries.— McKinsey & Company, 'How agentic AI can reshape real estate's operating model' (March 4, 2026), 2026
  1. McKinsey Global Institute estimates generative AI could generate $110 billion to $180 billion or more in value for the real estate industry. (Source: McKinsey & Company, 'Generative AI can change real estate' (November 2023), 2023)
  2. Gartner predicts over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027 due to escalating costs, unclear business value or inadequate risk controls. (Source: Gartner press release (June 25, 2025), 2025)
  3. Gartner predicts at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI by 2028, up from 0% in 2024, and 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1% in 2024. (Source: Gartner press release (June 25, 2025), 2025)
  4. 50% of brokerage leaders say they will deploy agentic AI tools to execute complex, multi-step tasks in 2026, and 63% plan to expand AI use for social and digital marketing automation. (Source: Delta Media, 2026 Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey (via GlobeNewswire), 2026)
  5. Only 2% of brokerage leaders say they have no plans to adopt AI in 2026, and leaders rate AI's future importance to their business 8 out of 10, up from 5 out of 10 in 2024. (Source: Delta Media, 2026 Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey (via GlobeNewswire), 2026)

Frequently Asked Questions

Can AI predict the next hot real estate market?

The evidence urges caution. Zillow's Zestimate — one of the most sophisticated AVMs in existence — carries a 1.94% median error with listing data but 7.06% without it (Zillow, 2025), and Zillow shut down its iBuying arm in 2021 citing 'home pricing unpredictability,' taking a $304.4 million write-down (SEC Form 8-K, 2021). Only 6% of Realtors use predictive analytics (NAR, 2025), and just 5% of CRE occupiers piloting AI achieved all their program goals (JLL, 2025). Where AI delivers reliably today is operations — lead response, communications, workflow automation — rather than market prophecy.

What percentage of real estate agents use AI in 2026?

Depends who you ask and how. NAR's randomized member survey found 20% of Realtors use AI daily and 32% haven't tried it (2025). RPR's survey of 225 professionals found 82% using AI (2026, tech-engaged sample). Delta Media found 97% of brokerage leaders report their agents use AI, up from 80% in 2024. In commercial real estate, JLL found 88% of investors/owners piloting AI, up from under 5% in mid-2023.

How fast do real estate agents respond to online leads?

Slowly. The WAV Group mystery-shop study found the average agent response time was 917 minutes (15.3 hours), and 48% of buyer inquiries got no response at all (2014 — still the canonical baseline). Harvard Business Review's audit of 2,241 companies found only 37% responded within an hour, and firms responding within an hour were nearly 7x as likely to qualify the lead as those an hour slower (2011). A centralized contact-center model achieved 100% response in 3 minutes (WAV Group, 2014) — the benchmark AI responders now replicate.

How much time does AI actually save real estate professionals?

68% of real estate professionals using AI save at least 1 hour per week and 34% save 4+ hours (RPR, 2026). Morgan Stanley estimates AI can automate 37% of real estate tasks, worth $34 billion in operating efficiencies by 2030 (2025). Vendor-reported figures run higher — AppFolio reports users of its AI saving 10 hours weekly (2025) — and should be labeled as vendor claims.

How much was invested in proptech in 2025?

Between $10.2 billion and $16.7 billion, depending on scope. CRETI counts $16.7B (up 67.9% year over year, broad definition), Wells Fargo counts $16.5B (down from $19.4B in 2024), and Crunchbase counts $10.2B in seed-through-growth venture rounds, with deal count down 58.3% from the 2021 peak.

Sources

Every statistic above is attributed inline to one of the following organizations or publications. Where reputable sources disagree, all figures are shown with their attributions.

  1. AppFolio
  2. CRETI
  3. Commercial Observer
  4. Crunchbase News
  5. Deloitte
  6. Delta Media
  7. EliseAI
  8. Gartner press release
  9. Harvard Business Review
  10. JLL
  11. McKinsey & Company
  12. Morgan Stanley Research
  13. National Association of REALTORS®
  14. Precedence Research
  15. Realtors Property Resource
  16. Redfin
  17. The Business Research Company
  18. WAV Group / Weichert Lead Network
  19. Wells Fargo
  20. Zillow
  21. Zillow Group Form 8-K