Real estate is undergoing a structural shift. Rising operational costs, heavier compliance, more complex marketing requirements and a new generation of agents entering the industry through non-traditional pathways have pushed the old model of small, self-contained offices to its limits.
As agents focus more heavily on sales and less on back-office skills, the industry is steadily moving toward centralised platforms built to support them.
David Highland, CEO of Highland Property, has watched this transition unfold in real time.
“The cost of running these real estate businesses is exponentially more than what it was five or ten years ago,” he says.
“The industry has moved past these small mum and dad real estate offices. There’s still a place for them in different markets, but broadly speaking the cost of running these businesses is much higher now.”
A significant part of this change is driven by who is entering the profession.
“Many people now jump straight into sales and sometimes bypass some of those other steps that were more traditional to real estate,” David says.
These agents often excel in communication and deal-making, yet have never handled the operational tasks once considered essential training.
“They haven’t gone through that traditional roadmap where you’re learning those things as you go along,” he explains, which leaves gaps that agencies increasingly need to support.
This is where centralised platforms are gaining momentum.
Highland Property has moved to consolidating services such as compliance, marketing, payroll, financial reporting and administration so individual agents are not left to manage them.
David describes the approach simply: “We’re trying to take all the things off them that are non dollar productive.”
The aim is to let salespeople focus on sales rather than paperwork or financial management.
“They can offload anything they want, right down to paying invoices and managing their own personal cash flows,” he says.
Scale plays an important role. With larger teams and shared infrastructure, agencies can afford specialists and external expertise that individuals cannot.
“We use the best consultants in the business,” David says.
“An individual agent wouldn’t be able to hire that level of expertise themselves, but a centralised platform can.”
Data visibility is also becoming a core element of the modern agency model.
Rather than relying on instinct or delayed reporting, agents are beginning to work with real-time dashboards that track appraisals, conversions, lead sources and marketing results.
David says this level of clarity is essential.
“The agents now have a granular understanding of what’s happening in their sales businesses.”
He adds that the aim is not increased pressure but improvement.
“The purpose is not to create more accountability but to drive growth.”
The changes already at play at Highland Property point toward what many expect the real estate office of 2026 to look like: a centralised platform supported by specialists, powered by data and built around agents who focus on client work rather than operational tasks.
“This is the way the industry is moving, and we’re designing environments that suit how real estate works today, not how it used to work,” says David.
