The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) annual conference, "NAR NXT, The REALTOR® Experience," took place in Houston, Texas, this past November. As someone who has gone to this conference nearly every year of the last decade, I had a good idea what to expect — mostly an overwhelming number of sessions and an increasingly crowded expo hall filled with booths and vendors. But I also knew that, if I were lucky, I would walk away with some valuable insights into the direction the real estate industry was heading in for 2026. I'm happy to report that I did, in fact, find some value in attending the conference, and beyond that, I found quite a bit of valuable insight in the 2025 NAR Consumer Trends Report.

Here's a list of five of the most interesting insights I took away from the 2025 NAR conference and Consumer Trends Report:

1. Being a Real Estate Agent Means Making a Lifetime of Touchpoints

Robert Herjavec, the well-known Shark Tank investor, was the keynote speaker at this year's conference. As one of the most well-known business investors in the US, he provided a unique outside perspective on real estate that I found extremely thought-provoking. One quote I thought was particularly insightful was, "Being a good REALTOR® doesn't mean you're helping people with one transaction. It's a continuum of touchpoints over a lifetime."

This point about real estate agents needing to make continuous touchpoints over a lifetime truly reinforces the value of a good marketing platform and CRM. It's impossible to keep up with hundreds of clients over the course of your career without one. 

A good integrated CRM and marketing platform like DeltaNET® helps you keep up with hundreds of clients over a lifetime by enabling you to import all their client data and stay in touch regularly through newsletters, market reports, anniversary emails, and more. You can even track how your customers engage with that marketing, helping you have a productive, yet personal, phone call with that customer. 

2. AI is Everywhere — The Real Opportunity is in Supporting Staff

The annual NAR conference featured dozens upon dozens of AI sessions. It felt like I was back in 2018, when half the sessions at real estate trade shows revolved around bitcoin and blockchain. While real estate has typically lagged other business verticals in embracing technology, I feel that, for the first time, it is actually ahead of many other industries in using AI. I have seen a true embrace of AI by many real estate brokerages, and it seems that is only going to continue. 

A great quote I heard from someone at T3 Sixty's conference event was, "Challenge your technology providers not on what AI tools they're bringing to make your agents' lives easier, but what tools they are bringing to make your staff's lives easier. 

At Delta Media Group®, we have been living and breathing AI tools for real estate for nearly a decade. Not only have we added dozens of AI-driven features to the DeltaNET platform, but our staff also uses AI daily to improve operations and efficiency. 

At the end of the day, AI is just an amalgamation of automations. Our mission statement at Delta Media Group is "Automate to Elevate Life." This is something we're thinking deeply about as we continue to expand our own AI toolset, and we will definitely be sharing more on this topic in 2026. 

3. The Data is Clear: The First Year After Closing is Your Referral Goldmine

NAR's consumer report was filled with a ton of great data collected between June 2024 and June 2025. In the report, NAR shared that 48% of experienced agents' business came from repeat customers. The report also shared that 48% of their business came from referrals from their former customers. While this data isn't particularly shocking, what I found interesting was this nugget of truth: "Within the first year of purchasing a new home, 62% of homebuyers say they have recommended their agent to somebody." For home sellers, that number is 66%. 

One of the sessions at the NAR conference shared that less than 10% of agents follow up with their previous customers on their home-purchase anniversary. However, a real estate agent's absolute best opportunity to generate new business is by staying highly engaged with their clients during the first year after a transaction. So often, agents close a deal, set up a post-transaction gift, and then it's crickets to their customers afterwards. 

To combat this common issue, brokerages need to be hyper-focused on developing actionable plans for 2026 to ensure their agents engage with customers in the first year after a transaction. A good CRM system can ingest transaction data, automating these plans. For example, a deal closes, your CRM picks up on that transaction and initiates a "post transaction action plan" that contains automated emails, automated market watch reports for the neighborhood your client now lives in, automated tasks being created on the agent's calendar to check in after 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, and of course, the home ownership anniversary. 

4. Buyers Expect Market Reports — So Make Them Exceptional

NAR's consumer report also found that 49% of all surveyed homebuyers said they wanted their agent to send them market reports containing information on recent sales, listings, and market conditions. This takeaway is short and sweet: make sure your agents have a great market watch reporting tool. These reports can be fully automated and are a great way to present market data in a visual, easy-to-digest format. Plus, great market watch reports can even be configured to run automatically for new customers once an address is tied to a customer record. 

5. Your Website's Search Experience is Still Essential

Finally, NAR once again emphasized the value of having a website with built-in property search and lead-capture tools. 52% of homebuyers stated that the home they ultimately purchased was one they found through an online property search they conducted themselves. Your brokerage and agent websites must elegantly portray your brand and value, and, of course, include a simple-to-understand property search with clearly defined "save property" or "request a showing" lead-capture options. 

More and more consumers are doing property searches themselves these days. Don't settle for just setting up an MLS saved search for your customers. If you have a website that ties into your CRM or marketing engine, there is so much valuable data that you can gain. For example, if you're stressing the importance of your customers using your website for the property search experience, your CRM can start collecting data on how customers search for properties. 

Automations, such as "automatically contact the customer and the agent if a customer looks at the same property detail page three times in seven days," can be set up in your CRM. Another example is "automatically set up a saved search for a customer if they have looked at three similar properties in a single session." This type of additional data and engagement touchpoints between your website and marketing tools is invaluable. 

Your 2026 Advantage Will Come From Smart Simplification

The themes that emerged from NAR this year all point toward a clear path forward for brokerages. By embracing these principles and reducing unnecessary complexity, brokerages can strengthen relationships, improve efficiency, and position themselves for long-term success in 2026 and beyond.