The real estate sector and the franchise model: a winning combination despite the transformation of the market
Madrid, July 18, 2025
The real estate sector in franchise model is undergoing a complete metamorphosis. Gone is the traditional neighborhood agency with a physical storefront and door-to-door lead generation. Today, the brands that dominate the market—and those aspiring to do so—face a dual challenge: understanding and adapting to an increasingly digitalized consumer and anticipating a complex economic context, in which extremely high prices are constrained by very limited supply and diminishing purchasing power.
This transformation could be understood based on four major vectors of change: unbounded globalization, the invasion of digitalization, the imperative for sustainability and the need for diversification. And each of them responds to structural causes that we cannot, and must not, ignore.
The vectors of change: globalization, digitalization, sustainability and diversification
Let’s start by talking about globalization: an unstoppable phenomenon that ceased to be an aspiration long ago to become a tangible reality in all aspects of our lives, and the housing sector could be no exception.
Real estate groups like RE/MAX or Engel & Völkers have managed to demonstrate that the franchise model can operate successfully in over a hundred countries, with decentralized structures and minimal adaptations. International property transactions—driven by tourism, foreign investment and professional mobility—already require agencies to speak the language of the “global client.”
Meanwhile, digitalization is advancing even faster, if anything, than globalization. Clients no longer travel to a real estate office, but rather enter a portal, an app or a CRM. What entertains them and, above all, what is practical and efficient for them is seeing a property in 3D, receiving personalized notifications and signing from their mobile device. And this is where the franchise model surely has a unique opportunity to continue growing: standardizing technological processes, investing in common platforms and accelerating digital adoption among its franchisees. It’s digitalize or die.
In the case of sustainability, it has ceased to be a reputational add-on to become a legal imperative and, more strikingly, a social expectation. Agencies that are able to understand the value (with capital V) of an energy-efficient home—not just as a product, but as a brand strategy—will connect with more conscious buyers and more demanding investors.
And finally, diversification of supply: from rentals or new construction, to tourist residential, co-living or logistics spaces. Those agencies that know how to identify niches, segment their offering and train their franchisees will survive, as this way they will achieve greater resilience to the cyclical and inevitable crises of the real estate market.
What does the future hold for us then? Most likely it will not be linear or uniform, but it will undoubtedly belong to those brands that embrace change as a lever for growth. And the franchise model—due to its structural agility, its capacity to scale innovation and its vocation as a network—is prepared to lead this new era.
What is at stake is no longer just market share. It is the future relevance of real estate as an intelligent service, sustainable and connected to new ways of inhabiting the world.
At Franchise Innovation Summit (FIS), aware of the importance of all sectors that drive the franchise model every day, we have launched, together with Capital Radio, a series of discussions in which to chat with leading brands and experts from different disciplines about the trends, challenges and opportunities that the future holds for us.
The first session, dedicated to the real estate sector in franchising, featured the participation of Raúl Calleja, FIS Director, Javier Sierra, President of REMAX Spain; Andrés Rybak, CEO of RBK Prime International Real Estate; and Tony Expósito, Director of Operations and Development at Keller Williams.
You can enjoy the full program HERE