Anywhere ready to seize this ‘growth moment’ 

Anywhere is big — it topped the list of brokerage enterprises in 2024 with more than $535 billion in sales volume — but it's not ready to stop there. 

The company's ambitious growth efforts were a key topic of discussion during a panel at the T3 Leadership Summit on May 20 as Anywhere franchise brand leaders sat down to discuss what sets each brand apart, and how they can work in concert to continue building the world's largest residential real estate brokerage business. (Note: Real Estate News is an editorially independent division of T3 Sixty.)

Growth, growth, growth: The panel included Ginger Wilcox, president of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate; Jason Waugh, president of Coldwell Banker Affiliates; Stephanie Anton, president of Corcoran Affiliates; and Sue Yannaccone, president and CEO of Anywhere Brands and Anywhere Advisors — and growth was the theme. 

That was true for each brand under the Anywhere umbrella, and for the enterprise as a whole.

"We're looking at what the next iteration of the company is, and it truly is growth," explained Yannaccone. "I think this is a growth moment in the industry. I think there's a lot of opportunity, whether it be through consolidation, whether it be us getting back into the acquisition game. We have a relocation company, we have a mortgage partnership, we have title, we have the full integrated structure, and we're global."

Women are leading the way: Of Anywhere's six major brokerage brands — Better Homes and Gardens, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA and Sotheby's — women lead half of them. Anton highlighted Sherry Chris and Barbara Corcoran's drive to succeed during a time when real estate — and corporate America — was mostly dominated by men. Anton herself had a "perception of Anywhere as being this good old boys club," she said, until she moved up the corporate ladder and met other women in positions of power. 

"It was learning that our entire legal team was women — that was a really important thing for me," Anton explained. "And a lot of amazing new leaders — who are not new to the industry, but new to the company — come in. So I think that bringing new blood in brings new thinking into your company, and it's really exciting to see a company that embraces that."

Leveraging value from existing brands: Anywhere leaders are also confident in their brands' ability to grow during a pivotal generational shift as the millennial and Gen Z cohorts continue to lean into homeownership. Wilcox sees tremendous opportunity for BHGRE, particularly in the digital age as younger buyers engage with social media for home decor trends and recipes. The established brand, and the legacy of its nearly century-old cookbook, means a lot to younger and older buyers alike, Wilcox said. 

"We, through our licensing agreement with Better Homes and Gardens, are able to connect with nearly 50 million consumers a month, and our focus is on how to make sure that we're creating that connection to the real estate business," she explained. "There's 40 million [BHGRE] cookbooks in people's homes. And if you think about the Better Homes and Gardens brand — I like to say that true icons are constantly evolving and you don't stay in people's homes for 100 years without evolving."

Correction: An earlier version of this story listed Corcoran President and CEO Pam Liebman as a speaker. The Corcoran panelist was Stephanie Anton, President of Corcoran Affiliates.