EXp World Holdings hosted its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, during which it highlighted a series of recruitment, a growing schedule of in-person events and conferences, AI-powered productivity gains, and a steadily expanding global footprint.
Underneath the bullish commentary lies the recognition of a rapidly changing competitive landscape, which will prompt eXp — and others — to refine their value proposition and growth strategy as Compass and Anywhere inch toward a groundbreaking merger. During Thursday’s call, eXp appeared to take a slight dig at the companies involved in that deal.
“No one company or model will capture all the markets,” EXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja said during the call. “It’s not a winner-take-all situation, and I think the Compass-Anywhere combination will probably serve a specific market of agents who are attracted to the brand-first model, versus we fundamentally believe that we’re secondary to the agent.”
“We believe the agent is the brand on the ground,” he added. “And I think we continue to refine who the agent we serve is. And I always like to say we’re the home of that entrepreneurial agent, whether that is a solo producer or whether that is a team leader who wants to build, you know, a scaled enterprise, multi-state, multi-market.”
EXp hunts quality over quantity in agent count
EXp Realty’s agent count saw a small year-over-year decline in Q3, dropping 2 percent to 83,446. However, brokerage leaders didn’t see the decline as evidence of a problem, but rather as proof that their focus on recruiting and retaining high-performance agents is working.
Despite having a smaller cohort, real estate sales transactions (121,516) and transaction volume ($54.1 billion) increased 3 percent and 7 percent, respectively, year over year.
- Agent count did grow quarter over quarter, for the second time in a row, rising from 82,704 in Q2 2025.
- The number of ICON agents, the term for agents who exceed production requirements during their capping period, increased 7 percent.
- EXp’s U.S. and international agent attrition improved during the quarter, rising 18 percent and 13 percent year over year, respectively.
Pareja said the brokerage’s bullishness on teams has yielded dividends, with high-profile brokers like Chris Heller moving their multi-million and billion-dollar teams to eXp.
- 39 percent of new agents to eXp were on teams in the third quarter
- Agents on teams were 79 percent more productive than individual agents
Zoom out: EXp Realty Founder Glenn Sanford ruffled feathers in 2021 when he said the brokerage could hit 500,000 agents by 2026. Although some industry members dismissed Sanford’s bullishness, it was reflective of a hot market that drew consumers — and new agents — to the industry at a rapid clip.
The market has since slowed, forcing brokerages to shift their focus from scaling to sustainability — a move that eXp has made through its “where the pros go to grow” tagline, which was launched two years ago. The tagline and the accompanying company changes have seemed to strike a chord, especially with team leaders in 2025, priming eXp to become the top choice for mega teams.
All in on AI
The lion’s share of eXp’s earnings call focused on the brokerage’s tech strategy, which includes a partnership with Canva Pro and a growing suite of artificial intelligence tools. Pareja, Sanford, and other leaders on the call said AI is crucial to eXp’s growth strategy, as it removes burdensome backend tasks from agents’ plates.
EXp World Holdings Chief Financial Officer Jesse Hill provided insight into how AI has impacted the brokerage’s bottom line, saying that the cost of processing a transaction has dropped from $620 in Q2 to $523 in Q3.
“We still think we have runway there,” Hill said. “We are implementing tools like Doc AI, which, you know, is document review, and really streamlines what you can pull from contracts and automates what previously was a very manual activity. There are many examples like that in the transaction process.”
“There are direct and indirect costs that go into that. And the direct cost is where the juice is worth the squeeze, right? Because there’s so much volume going through, and that’s where AI also offers the most opportunity,” he added. “And we feel pretty confident that we’re just scratching the surface there. We really began heavily investing in this late Q4/early Q1 […]. But now you see the fruits of our labor here in Q3 pulling out.”
Zoom out: Artificial intelligence has been at the heart of industry chatter this year, with brokers finding ways to scale and streamline their operations with proprietary or third-party AI-powered technology tools.
The race to the front has been even more intense among the industry’s most prominent players, with eXp, Keller Williams, Compass, and Anywhere all utilizing their financial resources and influence to gain an edge. The Compass-Anywhere merger, which was mentioned several times during the call, has raised the stakes, as nearly 300,000 Anywhere affiliates will have the option to adopt Compass’ expansive tech stack once the deal closes in mid-2026.
Sanford reasserted eXp’s position as a tech innovator in his remarks, stating that the company has been at the forefront of AI since 2020.
Other numbers to remember
EXp leaders were riding high throughout the Q3 call, highlighting the success of its recruiting and retention efforts, record growth within eXp Global, and expansion of its SUCCESS media and training segment.
- eXp revenue increased 7 percent to $1.3 billion.
- The company remained profitable, with its net income reaching $3.5 million.
- eXp Global generated $100 million in revenue from Q1 to Q3
