Real estate marketing statistics · Canada · 2026
What the researchactually says.
Marketing statistics in this industry get repeated, not sourced. This page is the opposite: every number below links to the primary study behind it, Canadian data first, and the numbers that turned out to be smoke are named at the bottom. We sell brand and marketing work for a living, so read it knowing that.
Sourced, not repeated
One rule:
name the study.
Most real estate stat lists cite each other in a circle until nobody can find the survey underneath. Everything here has a primary document behind it: the organization that ran it, the year, and a link to the report itself, not a blog that quoted it.
Our audience is Canadian agents, so Canadian data leads and American figures are labelled. Where a number is old or narrow, it says so. And the stats that fall apart under that test get their own section, so you stop repeating them.
Agent over brokerage
They hire the person,
not the sign.
Canadian buyers rank their real estate agent the most valuable person in the entire buying process (30%), ahead of the mortgage broker and family (CMHC, 2025 Mortgage Consumer Survey).
When sellers choose who lists their home, the agent's reputation is the top reason (33%). The brokerage the agent works for sits near the bottom, at 4% (NAR, 2024 Generational Trends, US).
The more experience a Canadian buyer has, the more they credit the agent: 37% of repeat buyers name the agent their most valued team member, up from 28% of first-timers (CMHC, 2025).
Read together, the person is the product. The brokerage on the sign reassures a client; the agent across the table is the decision. That is the whole case for building a brand around your own name.
Where the business comes from
Your referrals
are your reputation.
Referrals and repeat clients are how most agents fill a calendar. That is the good news and the fragile part: a warm lead is not a booking. It is a name the client is about to look up.
The numbers below describe one behaviour. People trust the recommendation, then they check it, and they take their time doing it.
The referral, and the search that follows
Warm leads still
get checked.
People trust a recommendation from someone they know above every form of advertising (Nielsen, 2021 Trust in Advertising, global).
43% of buyers found their agent through a referral, and 65% of sellers used a referral or simply rehired the agent they had before (NAR, 2024 Generational Trends, US).
One in three buyers now say online research was decisive in choosing their agent, and the share of sellers who find their agent online has doubled since 2018, to 36% (Zillow, 2025 Consumer Housing Trends, US).
Before they choose a local business, 74% of people check two or more review sites (BrightLocal, 2025, US).
A referral does not phone the moment your name comes up. They look you up first, and most of your business arrives this way, warm. Every warm lead has to survive that search. Your brand is what they find when they check. It does not create the referral. It stops the referral from leaking.
And the work itself
Marketing quality
is measurable.
None of this argues for spending on marketing for its own sake. It argues that the quality of the marketing is visible in the outcome, and the most-looked-at part of any listing is the photography.
The figures below are about the piece a buyer actually consumes, and what sharper work is worth in price and speed.
Marketing quality moves the sale
The photos do
the heavy lifting.
Homes with the sharpest listing photos sold at or above asking 44% of the time, versus 13% for photos of average sharpness (Redfin, 2013, US, older data).
Photos are the single most useful listing feature for buyers: two thirds of all buyers, and nearly nine in ten of those under 44 (NAR, 2024 Generational Trends, US).
Agents themselves name social media their top lead-generating technology (39%), ahead of their CRM and their MLS (NAR, 2025 Technology Survey, US).
Quality is not a vanity spend. It shows up in price, in speed, and in whether the most-looked-at part of your listing does its job. That is what a staged, well-built listing is buying.
The honest part
Stats agents repeat
that aren't true.
-
"Buyers are 71% more likely to choose an agent with an active social media presence."
No primary study exists. The citation trail dead-ends at a page that never contains the number. The real NAR 71%: the share of buyers who interviewed only one agent.
-
"Consistent branding increases revenue by 23%."
A brand-software vendor's own survey, methodology undisclosed, and the figure is a misquote of that vendor's own 33%.
-
"Listings with video get 403% more inquiries."
Traces to a single 2012 Australian vendor study, misattributed across the web to NAR and Redfin.
-
"Professionally photographed homes sell 35% faster."
Vendor marketing, with no primary study behind it. The sourced version is Redfin's 44% versus 13% above.
-
"62% of buyers choose their agent by online reviews."
Attributed to a company that no longer exists, with no accessible study. A dead citation.
-
"97% of buyers research their agent online."
An inflation. The sourced figure is 33% (Zillow, above).
The gap in the data
Does the brokerage
brand matter?
Here is an honest gap. No primary consumer survey, in Canada or elsewhere, directly asks whether the brokerage brand decides who a client hires. Brand-tracking studies measure how well people recognize a RE/MAX or Royal LePage logo, which is a different question.
What the data does show is by absence. When buyers and sellers list what makes them choose an agent, the brokerage is not on the list. For sellers, reputation is 33% and the brokerage they work for is 4%. The sign reassures. The person decides. That is the argument for your own brand.
The questions
underneath.
Do clients choose an agent because of the brokerage?+
The data says barely. When sellers rank what made them hire their listing agent, reputation is the top reason at 33% and the brokerage the agent works for is 4% (NAR, 2024). In the buyer research, the brokerage does not appear among the reasons at all. The brand on the sign reassures a client; the individual agent is who they actually choose.
Does a real estate agent really need their own brand?+
Most business already arrives warm, through referral and repeat clients, and a referral looks you up before they call. A recognizable, consistent presence is what that search finds. It does not create the referral; it keeps the referral from leaking to a more polished competitor.
Is it true buyers won't hire an agent without a social media presence?+
That specific claim, usually phrased as 71% more likely, has no primary source behind it. What is true and sourced: agents rate social media their top lead tool (NAR, 2025), and buyers increasingly research an agent online before choosing (Zillow, 2025). Social media is where your reputation gets confirmed, not a lead firehose.
Are these real estate statistics Canadian?+
Where Canadian data exists we lead with it, from CMHC and Canadian sources, because our audience is Canadian agents. Much of the deepest agent-selection data is American, from NAR, Zillow and Redfin, and is labelled as such. Every number on this page links to the primary study behind it.
Where this goes
Make the search
land on you.
The numbers all point one way: the referral is yours to lose in the look-up. A consistent brand is what holds it. Start with the case for personal branding, or try us on one listing. $249 with twenty-five printed brochures, $169 digital only.
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