Douglas Elliman is ‘not standing still’ after Q3 revenue drop
Revenue fell year-over-year after improving in Q2. With no long-term debt, however, the firm said it is poised to enter 2027 from “a position of strength.”
After a relatively strong second quarter, Douglas Elliman's revenue ticked down by about 4% in Q3, but the luxury brokerage reported a year-over-year net income gain and no long-term debt while gross transaction volume held steady during a period of muted housing market activity.
The company has "accomplished a great deal" but is "not standing still," President and CEO Michael Liebowitz said during a Nov. 10 earnings call.
"Douglas Elliman enters this next phase from a position of strength," Liebowitz said. "We are investing in talented people. We are modernizing the infrastructure beneath the company. We are giving our agents better tools. We are expanding our capabilities around new development and residential finance, and we are taking the Douglas Elliman brand into new luxury markets where the opportunity makes sense."
What Douglas Elliman had to say
On investing in AI: The "AI transformation" Elliman introduced over the summer is "moving deeper into execution" amid efforts to "modernize the business and reduce costs," according to Liebowitz. Part of that execution has involved the hiring of Sharon Milz, head of AI technology transformation, and Nick Patino, director of AI enablement.
"There are workflows and processes across Douglas Elliman that can be simpler, faster and better connected," Liebowitz said. "Modernizing those systems should make the company more efficient while giving our agents and employees better tools and more time to focus on clients, relationships and growing their businesses."
On international growth: "Importantly, the economics of our international expansion have fundamentally changed. Where we once paid others to extend our global reach, today we are increasingly getting paid for the use of the Douglas Elliman brand," Liebowitz said.
The brokerage, which launched Elliman International in mid-2025, is evaluating additional markets overseas, "but the approach will remain thoughtful and disciplined," he added. "This is not about putting dots on a map. It's about finding the right partners in the right luxury markets where Douglas Elliman can add value and where the economics make sense to us."
On Elliman's competitors: Many of the industry's other major residential brokerages are "basically spending most of their time on mergers, integration," Liebowitz observed — "and that's very distracting for management [and] creates a lot of uncertainty for agents."
Elliman is "not in the middle of that at all," he said. "We're in a growth stage. We can stay focused on our people, our business."
"I think this is going to create real opportunity for us to attract great agents, continue to grow our business and do really exciting things in 2027 while keeping our cost structure at a level that we feel very comfortable about," Liebowitz added.
Key numbers
Revenue: $252.1 million, down from $283.4 million in Q2 and down from $262.8 million in Q3 of 2025. Revenue in Q3 was also down slightly year-over-year (less than 1%) on a comparable basis when excluding revenue from the company's former property management business.
Cash and cash equivalents: $102.7 million plus $20 million in a U.S. Treasury bill and no long-term debt in Q3, compared to $143 million at the end of the same period a year ago.
Net income/loss: A net gain of $7.4 million, an improvement over the net loss of $24.7 million one year earlier.
Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization): A loss of $5.3 million, compared to a gain of $1 million in Q3 of 2025.
Transactions: Gross transaction value of about $10 million during the three months ended September 30, on par with the $10 million reported at the end of Q3 of 2025.
Notable moves
In addition to hiring Milz and Patino, the brokerage welcomed Jamie Gagliano back into the fold in September as chief operations officer, brokerage. Gagliano "brings significant experience working with agents and building businesses," Liebowitz said, adding that she "is already looking across at national operations at how we simplify processes, strengthen support and build a more scalable organization."
The brokerage also announced this week that its board of directors has greenlit a share repurchase program, allowing the company to buy back up to $10 million of its common stock. The move reflects Elliman's "continued focus on a disciplined capital allocation and long-term stockholder value," EVP, Treasurer and CFO J. Bryant Kirkland III said.