In our 2026 Real Estate Marketing Trends Report, we surveyed over 300 real estate professionals to learn about their marketing strategies and goals for the year.
During 2025, the real estate industry faced a number of challenges that redefined marketing and operational strategies including
- Navigating the commission and transparency shift
- Economic constraints from sustained rates
- Generative AI causes a new visibility challenge
- The skills gap and trust challenge in new technologies
Economic and technological pressures required operations to be reassessed, with a strict focus on clear value and high-ROI marketing.
Business challenges this past year continue to center on the evergreen necessities
What are real estate professionals top 2026 goals?
Success in 2026 will require agility and the ability to adopt both traditional methods and newer, digital innovations and technologies.
Real estate professional's top goals for 2026 include:
2026's top goals continue to mirror the core challenges expressed from previous years, further confirming these are consistent pain points professionals wish to resolve.

As real estate professionals evaluated their marketing efforts from 2025, clear insights emerged about where funds were allocated to drive sales—and which methods were streamlined due to increasing cost scrutiny.
Agents are strategically optimizing their media dollars by abandoning overly expensive packages and consolidating budgets, confirming a clear focus on high-impact essentials. This demonstrates a market prioritizing fiscal prudence and efficiency over perceived non-essential offerings or strategies.
Real estate strategies for success in 2026
Success now requires digital efficiency, visual excellence, and strong relationship management. To hit 2026 goals (sales, leads, and referrals), focus on maximizing client consistency and ROI while carefully managing costs.
The top 5 strategies real estate agent should implement in 2026 are:

Automate tasks with Agentic AI and consolidate vendors to focus on clients and manage costs effectively.
Use Generative AI to create optimized, on-brand listing and social copy to master online discoverability and save time.
Invest the majority of your budget in proven, high-ROI media and ads, while testing low-cost new strategies to gain a competitive edge.
Blend high-touch traditional marketing (like direct mail) with targeted digital campaigns, ensuring all assets are visually consistent.
While using AI for routine tasks, always review outputs and inject your expertise to ensure authentic, trustworthy online communication.
Download the Report!
Download the full PDF version of our 2026 Marketing Trends Report if you're looking to start the year right.
In our 2026 Real Estate Marketing Trends Report, over 300 real estate professionals share their current marketing strategies and business challenges. This report provides deeper insight to their marketing strategies and goals for 2026 and can help you stay ahead of the competition and focus on generating leads and driving sales.
Achieving success in this dynamic market requires professionals to balance innovation with time-tested strategies. For staying competitive, it's important to build strong relationships, deliver high-quality visuals, and keep up with market changes.
With innovative marketing solutions tailored to meet the needs of an ever-changing landscape, Virtuance supports real estate professionals in reaching their goals.