The Thousand agents break records, average $1M sales price

Low inventory? No problem. Top-performing real estate agents and teams closed an average of 241.2 transaction sides in 2021, up from 211 in 2020, breaking records in the 2022 RealTrends + Tom Ferry The Thousand rankings.

RealTrends + Tom Ferry The Thousand is an annual, national ranking program presented by RealTrends—the Trusted Source—and Tom Ferry International coaching, advertised in The Wall Street Journal.

Designees are recognized as the top .065% of more than 1.6 million licensed Realtors® nationwide. The rankings are based on 2021 data.

The rankings always yield interesting insights into the state of the industry. 2021 was a banner year for real estate agents, and even more so for The Thousand agents and teams.

The top individuals averaged 241.2 closed transaction sides and sales volume of $253.8 million, up from $213.2 million in 2020. And, for the first time in the ranking’s history, individual ranked agents had an average sales price of over $1 million.

Teams in the rankings averaged 430 transaction sides per team, which was slightly down from the 2021 The Thousand’s 443 transaction sides per team. However, sales volume was way up, with the average team closing $257.5 million in sales volume, compared to $213.2 million last year.

Small teams lead in productivity

When it comes to agent productivity, small teams of one to five licensed members, closed more transactions than either medium-sized (6-10 members) and large teams (11-20 members.)

While we don’t have any data on why this is true, we asked Steve Murray, founder of the rankings and a senior advisor for RealTrends to weigh in. “This could be because smaller teams have closer relationships with agents and tighter controls. It’s hard to say for sure,” he says.

“It could also be that the medium- and large-sized teams are still scaling up. Of course, all of them are facing the challenge of recruiting and developing talent for their teams. From talking to many, they’re also being challenged by the experienced, internal agents wanting higher splits. This is, of course, the same problem that major brokerages face and have for years,” says Murray.

Majority of top agents and teams with a well-known brand

Of the 13,686 individual agents who qualified, about 96% or 13,119 were associated with a well-known national or regional brand.

For the teams on our study, of the 10,223 teams, some 94% or 9,657 of them were associated with a well-known regional or national-branded brokerage firm. 

Here are those top-of-the-list in RealTrends + Tom Ferry The Thousand:

Individuals by Volume

1. Ben Caballero, HomesUSA.com, Texas
2. Christian Angle, Christian Angle Real Estate, Florida
3. Chris Cortazzo, Compass, California

Individuals by Transaction Sides

1. Ben Caballero, HomesUSA.com, Texas
2. Ralph Harvey, Listwithfreedom.com, Florida
3. Steven Koleno, EXIT Strategy Realty, Illinois

Small Teams by Volume

1. Branden & Rayni Williams, The Beverly Hills Estates, California
2. Bisignano Group, Vista Sotheby’s International Realty, California
3. Riskin Partners Estate Group, Village Properties, California

Small Teams by Transaction Sides

1. j2 Group Inc., Knipe Realty ERA Powered, Oregon
2. Graddy Real Estate, Keller Williams Springfield/Graddy Real Estate, Missouri
3. The Kypreos Team, HomeSmart, Nevada

Medium Teams by Volume

1. Alexander Team, Douglas Elliman, New York
2. Leavitt McIntosh Team, Douglas Elliman, Florida
3. The Hedgerow Team, Hedgerow Exclusive Properties, New York

Medium Teams by Transaction Sides

1. ListingSpark, ListingSpark,Texas
2. The Maryland-Delaware Group of Long & Foster, Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., Maryland
3. Vutech/Ruff, Corcoran Global Living, Ohio  

Large Teams by Volume

1. The Jills Zeder Group, Coldwell Banker Realty, Florida
2. The Altman Brothers Team, Douglas Elliman, California
3. The TSE Group, Intero – a Berkshire Hathaway Affiliate, California

Large Teams by Transaction Sides

1. Rhodes Team, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty,Texas
2. The Heyl Group, Keller Williams Ballantyne Area, Texas
3. The PCS Pro Team, Keller Williams, Colorado

Mega Teams by Volume

1. Place Inc., Place Inc., Washington
2. Mark Spain Real Estate, Mark Spain Real Estate, Georgia
3. Justin Tye Team, Active Realty, California

Mega Teams by Transaction Sides

1. Mark Spain Real Estate, Mark Spain Real Estate, Georgia
2. Place Inc., Place Inc., Washington
3. The Robert Slack Team, Robert Slack LLC, Florida

Want to know how the rankings are broken down?

View the rankings