Courtesy of the National Association of REALTORS®.
Technology plays an increasingly important role in real estate, and many Realtors are willing to pay for it out of their own pockets if they have to, a new survey finds.
Twenty-four percent of respondents to the 2025 National Association of REALTORS® Technology Survey said they spend more than $500 per month on technology to conduct business, while 20% spend $251-$500, and 34% spend $50 to $250.
Nineteen percent reported spending over $500 per month on lead generation, while 15% spend $251-$500, and 27% spend $50 to $250.
These outlays come despite 67% of Realtors strongly agreeing or agreeing that their brokerages provide them with the technology they need to do their jobs, the survey found.
In July, NAR invited a random sample of 49,233 active Realtors to participate in the online survey, and 1,241 usable responses were received.
Courtesy of the National Association of REALTORS®.
Realtors were most likely to pay for their own social media tools (52%), cloud storage (48%), virtual tours (47%) and lockbox/showing tech (41%), while brokerages were most likely to cover transaction management (39%), eSignature (37%) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools (36%).
If customer satisfaction is any gauge, then the technology is worth it, the survey finds. Eighty-two percent of respondents said their clients responded very positively (45%) or positively (37%) to the integration of technology into the buying and selling process.
The main reason Realtors adopt new technology is to save time (66%), followed by improving the client experience (64%), closing more deals (51%), staying ahead of the competition (41%) and reducing overhead or team size (16%).
When it comes to generating leads, social media was the clear favorite, with 39% responding that it provided the highest number of quality leads, followed by CRM tools (23%), local MLSs (17%) and brokerage websites (13%).
Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed use emerging technology like AI but are still learning about it, while 8% consider themselves adept enough to teach others, 21% have heard of it but haven’t used it and 13% haven’t heard of it.
Courtesy of the National Association of REALTORS®.
AI is the clear favorite among those who use emerging tech, with 41% of respondents using it, followed by predictive consumer analytics at 6%, smart contracts (5%), smart homes/voice tech (3%) and augmented/virtual reality (2%).
A majority of Realtors use AI to some degree, either daily (20%), weekly (22%) or a few times a month (27%), while 32% have not actively used it for their business. Forty-six percent of Realtors said AI has had no noticeable impact on their business, while 40% said it has had a significantly positive impact (17%) or moderately positive impact (23%).
ChatGPT is the most popular choice among AI tools (58%), followed by Google’s Gemini (20%) and Microsoft’s Copilot (15%).
Despite Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte ordering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to study the use of cryptocurrency as an asset for single-family loans, crypto does not play a significant role in Realtors’ business. Seventy-six percent of respondents had no plans to invest in it, while 92% have not discussed it with clients and 98% have not been involved in a transaction where it played a role.
Augmented/virtual reality also has yet to have much of an impact in Realtors’ lives, with 88% having never used it for business and 83% seeing no noticeable impact from it.
“These results show a profession that is adapting quickly to technological change while prioritizing client satisfaction,” NAR Deputy Chief Economist Jessica Lautz said. “Technology continues to be a powerful force in real estate, driving efficiency and marketing innovation.”