As industry leans into AI, report finds agent use is lagging
The real estate professionals who do use AI tools find them helpful in tackling content creation, scheduling and administrative tasks, a Kaplan survey found.
Key points:
- Most real estate professionals use AI in some form, but a new agent survey from Kaplan found that 46% don’t — and 17% aren’t planning to use AI in the next 1-3 years.
- Though economic concerns are widespread, over 40% of agents expressed little to no concern that a recession could threaten their job.
- Even with the sluggish market conditions, most agents said they would still advise buyers to buy and sellers to sell.
Agent insight and sentiment can be enlightening in a moment when economic uncertainty and stubbornly low home sales are persistent themes in the U.S. housing market.
A new report from educational resource provider Kaplan adds to the growing number of agent surveys to help offer a better understanding of what real estate professionals are seeing — and how the market is holding up.
Industry-wide AI push has real momentum
The big brokerages, portals and even upstart agentic AI assistant startups have been pushing AI onto agents and consumers alike in the past few years — and it appears that the industry is reaching a tipping point where the tech is no longer just a buzzword but a proper business tool.
According to Kaplan's 2025 Survey of Trends in the Real Estate Industry, more than half of the 750 agents surveyed between May and June said they already use AI in some capacity for their business — though 46% said they still aren't using AI tools.
Among those who do, the most common uses were for producing and scheduling social media content, creating personalized email marketing and completing administrative tasks.
The report echoes similar sentiments seen in other reports, such as Real Brokerage's June agent survey, which found that nearly 58% of respondents were using AI in some way for their day-to-day business. Only 17% of Kaplan survey respondents said they do not plan to use AI in the next few years.
More insight into recession concerns from the industry
But AI isn't the only trend impacting agents today. Persistent concerns about the economy are also shaping the housing market.
So how are agents feeling about the economy and the likelihood of a recession — particularly one that could cause deeper competition among agent ranks? Over 30% of respondents signaled some degree of concern while over 40% expressed little to no concern over the possibility that a recession could threaten their job as an agent. Roughly 27% said they were unsure if a recession would impact agent competition.
The results appear to offer a contrast to general perspectives of investors, who seem to have stronger feelings about the impacts a recession could have on real estate. An August report from CJ Patrick Company and RCN Capital found that 57% of investor respondents suspect the U.S. is likely to enter a recession before the end of the year, a belief that only 30% of respondents disagreed with.
For many agents, it's still business as usual
Despite the upheaval in the past year from new industry best practices and standards — and the mandate for buyer agency agreements — most agents signaled that they have neither felt nor foresee major changes to their income in the near future.
Of the agents surveyed, 52% said they don't believe the recent commission structure changes will have a significant impact on their income in the next few years, while 26% think there will be negative impacts and another 22% believe their income may increase.
Even with ongoing economic volatility, nearly 80% of agents said they would either "probably" or "definitely" recommend that a client buy a home in the current market — and 75% would tell sellers the same. Only 6% of respondents would not recommend that clients purchase a home in the next year, and just 7% would advise sellers against listing.