According to a new year-over-year analysis of the Delta Media Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey from the last three years from Delta Media Group – the number of real estate brokerages with no plans to adopt AI has dropped to just 2% in 2026, down from 4% in 2025 and nearly 11% in 2024.
The AI adoption gap between mid-size brokerages and the industry’s largest firms, a gap Delta Media has tracked since the survey began, has now closed entirely. The pattern across all three years indicates whatever hesitation that once separated early adopters from the rest of the industry is now disappearing.
“Every year we run this survey, the story is less about who is trying AI and more about who still has not. That second group is nearly gone. When we started tracking this three years ago, non-adoption was a real category.
“Today, it is a rounding error and the brokerages in the middle and the industry giants both report essentially full AI adoption.”
Michael Minard, CEO and Owner, Delta Media Group
Brokerages with no plans to adopt AI in the coming year fell from 10.6% in 2024 to 4.0% in 2025, to just 1.9% in 2026, and brokerages reporting no AI use at all fell from 24.8% (2024) to 11.9% (2025) to 3.9% (2026).
The share of leaders rating AI’s importance today an eight or higher (on a ten-point scale) nearly doubled in a single year – from 28.7% in 2025 to 47.6% in 2026.
In 2024, mid-size brokerages (101–500 agents) already reported slightly higher agent AI use (84%) than the largest firms, 500+ agents (82%). By 2026, both segments reached 100% – full parity between mid-size and the largest brokerages in the survey.
The one segment still meaningfully behind is the smallest independent brokerages (fewer than ten agents), where reported usage has moved unevenly year to year rather than climbing steadily – the clearest sign of where the remaining adoption work is concentrated.
“They are consolidating around partners who can deliver it as part of one connected platform. Soon, we will reveal what that will look like for Delta customers.”
Michael Minard, CEO and Owner, Delta Media Group
The value brokerage leaders place on all-in-one marketing platforms that include AI and automation rose to 7.3 out of 10 in 2026 – the highest of the three years surveyed, after dipping slightly in 2025. Over half of leaders (51.5%) now rate these platforms an 8 or higher, up from 41.6% in 2025.
