Research Preview
The 2026 Real Estate Technology Stack Report
Real estate has more technology than ever. The harder question is whether the stack actually works.
The Modern Listing is building an independent benchmark of the tools, costs, integrations, data practices and AI workflows shaping modern real estate. This preview combines findings from established public research with our analysis of the questions the industry still needs answered.
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What the public evidence shows so far
of surveyed agents use multiple tools for their work
54% used two to four tools, while 39% used five or more.
Source:Zillow
of REALTORS® reported spending more than $500 per month on technology
of REALTORS® said they currently use AI or generative AI
20% reported daily use and 22% weekly use.
of companies recognized in the 2025 Tech 200 integrate AI into their offerings
Up from 30.4% in 2024.
Source:T3 Sixty
The modern stack is fragmented
The typical real estate workflow is no longer powered by a single system. It moves across CRMs, websites, lead platforms, marketing software, listing-media tools, transaction systems, eSignature products, MLS interfaces and a growing layer of AI assistants.
Zillow found that 93% of surveyed agents used multiple tools, including 39% who used five or more.Zillow A separate Forrester Consulting study commissioned by TransUnion found that 48% relied on four or more separate tools for a group of common responsibilities.TransUnion / Forrester Consulting
Tool count alone does not prove waste. Specialized tools can outperform bundled alternatives, and brokerage-provided software may coexist with an agent's personal system for legitimate reasons. But every additional system creates another potential login, data transfer, subscription, training requirement and point of failure.
Tools used by agents — Zillow survey, 2025
Includes the 10% who reported using ten or more tools.
Source: Zillow
Technology spending is becoming a material operating cost
Technology is no longer a minor incidental expense for many practitioners. In NAR's 2025 survey,National Association of REALTORS® 34% reported spending between $50 and $250 per month on technology, 20% spent between $251 and $500, and 24% spent more than $500.
These figures do not reveal whether that spending is productive. They also do not fully capture technology supplied by a brokerage, MLS or association. The more useful questions are what portion is required, which tools are actively used and where practitioners are paying separately for capabilities they already receive elsewhere.
Monthly technology spending — NAR REALTORS® Technology Survey, 2025
Percentages may not total 100% because of rounding.
AI adoption is real, but the headline numbers hide major differences
AI is becoming both a standalone tool and an embedded feature. NAR found that 41% of REALTORS® were currently using AI or generative AI.National Association of REALTORS® T3 Sixty found that 51.6% of the companies recognized in its 2025 Tech 200 integrated AI into their offerings, up from 30.4% one year earlier.T3 Sixty
But availability is not the same as regular use, and regular use is not the same as measurable business value. NAR found that 20% used AI daily, while 32% had not actively tried it for their business. It also found that 46% reported no noticeable effect from AI and 33% reported a moderately positive effect.
The next stage of the market will be less about whether a product includes AI and more about whether it has access to reliable data, fits an actual workflow and operates within appropriate review and governance controls.
How often REALTORS® use AI — NAR, 2025
Why do AI-adoption studies produce very different numbers?
Surveys may measure direct agent use, leadership perceptions, experimentation, weekly use or features embedded inside software. Those are different measures and should not be combined into one adoption rate.
A 2026 Delta Media surveyDelta Media Groupfound that 97% of responding brokerage leaders said their agents were using AI. Delta Media is a real estate technology vendor; the survey targeted brokerage owners and top-level managers. That leadership-reported figure is not directly comparable with NAR's direct member survey of individual REALTORS®.
This is where the public data stops.
Existing studies show that real estate professionals use multiple systems, spend meaningful amounts on technology and are adopting AI. They do not provide a complete, independent view of how those systems fit together.
The full Modern Listing report is being developed to examine the composition of actual stacks, who pays for each tool, where capabilities overlap, how data moves between systems and which AI workflows are delivering observable value.
Coming in the full report
Stack composition
The products and categories used by solo agents, teams and brokerages.
Coming in the full report
Cost and overlap
Who pays, what is bundled and where subscriptions duplicate active capabilities.
Coming in the full report
Integration and data readiness
Systems of record, manual data entry, exports, CRM hygiene and automation barriers.
Coming in the full report
AI use and governance
Availability, frequency, workflow value, human review, policy and data controls.
Full report coming in 2026.
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Sources
This preview synthesizes external public research. The Modern Listing has not yet published original survey findings for this report.
The studies cited use different populations, samples and definitions. Statistics from different studies should not be combined into a single industry-wide estimate.
Vendor-produced and vendor-commissioned studies are labeled below. The forthcoming report's original methodology will be published with the completed research.
- 1.National Association of REALTORS® · 2025
1,241 usable responses from a random invitation sample of 49,233 active REALTORS®; reported margin of error ±2.78 percentage points.
- 2.Zillow · 2025
Zillow survey of more than 300 agents.
- 3.TransUnion / Forrester Consulting(vendor-commissioned study) · 2026
Forrester Consulting study commissioned by TransUnion; surveyed agents with two or more sales during the previous year.
- 4.T3 Sixty · 2025
Selected list of 200 products from 130 companies organized into 43 technology groupings; not a market-wide agent-adoption survey.
- 5.Delta Media Group(technology vendor; brokerage-leadership survey) · 2026
Vendor-produced survey of more than 100 broker-owners and top-level brokerage managers conducted in December 2025.