Remax and Realogy Stocks Tank Amidst a Changing Industry
No one seems to be talking about this. Large Real Estate Franchising Groups are Losing Stock Value, and Fast.
The two largest conventional bricks and mortar brokerage conglomerates stocks are tanking. Remax and Realogy have lost close to 50% of their stock value in the past 52 weeks.
On the other side of this news, private investments are fueling over $2 billion in new funding into efficient/scalable broker concepts. $2 billion in market cap lost on one side, $2 billion in market cap gained on another.
Royalty Fee Models Don’t Align With Franchisor and Agent Member Long-Term Growth
Brokerage Holding companies such as Realogy and Remax rely on incremental individual contributions from their Franchisors agent base. These royalties flow upward from the Franchise to the Holding Companies. The challenge with this model is that both the Franchisor and the Holding Companies are not truly aligned with the agent members due to the conventional cap system. The cap model sees contributions diminish, if not disappear, once an agent member hits certain annual milestones. Low producing agent members (of which form the majority of membership base) contribute a royalty through their Franchise to the Holding Company, in an amount that is very similar to that of a top producing agent member.
In an industry where consumers are demanding efficiencies, the bottom is being weeded out and the 2-10 annual transaction type REALTORS® are finding it harder to justify their value. It is only obvious that the days of mass agent membership are under pressure and the result will be disastrous to the large franchise brands of the past.
Large Real Estate Franchises are Losing Stock Value, and Fast
If this opinion proves to be correct, unless these large franchise holding brands can divert their strategic resources into acquisitions of emerging counterplays, this trend will continue with the steep and aggressive slide that is becoming of a fragmented industry. Paving way for a bright future for forward-thinking scalable, agile operations and technologies, such as DigiRealtyTechnologies.com and others.
These large brands are proving to be the authors of their own misfortune. The brands in the position to stand out as industry stewards became balance sheet adjusters and profit wielders, as opposed to innovators. The results will be obvious.
Gord McCormick
Good post, Jeff! There are certainly many more choices for consumers here in Ottawa, where we now have 174 member brokerages, not just the half a dozen major franchise brokerages with their multi tiered, high overhead structures.
Gord McCormick
Broker of Record
Oasis Realty Brokerage Ottawa