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EXp’s earnings confirm the most profitable year in company history

EXp World Holdings posted its most profitable year in company history in 2020, on the back of a hot housing marketing and a boom in virtual work and events that propped up its virtual world subsidiary.

The company announced Thursday it posted a net income of $31 million in 2020, after posting only one profitable quarter in company history prior to 2020. 

Glenn Sanford | Photo credit: eXp World Holdings

The company previewed its boom year in a preliminary earnings report earlier this month, but the final numbers confirm eXp World Holdings saw revenues and agent counts soar along with profits.

“EXp experienced tremendous growth in 2020 as our agents and staff demonstrated resilience and overcame the challenges presented throughout the year,” Glenn Sanford, the founder, chairman and CEO of eXp World Holdings, said in a statement.

“Our cloud-based brokerage and virtual working environment enabled continuous operations and supported the rapid growth of adding more than 15,000 agents during the year,” Sanford added.

EXp World Holdings reported fourth-quarter revenue of $609.3 million, soaring past the $521.8 million expected by analysts. 

The company saw year-end agent count increase 63 percent year over year to 41,313. As of March 11, that agent count has continued to balloon to more than 48,000.

Those agents rode the hot housing market to record performances for the company. Agents with eXp Realty closed 239,981 transactions in 2020, a year-over-year increase of 77 percent. In the fourth quarter alone, transaction sides were up 113 percent to 82,055.

Sales volume also climbed rapidly, with agents closing more than $72 billion in total sales volume in 2020, a year-over-year increase of 82 percent.

The company also continued to expand internationally, adding a brokerage presence in France, Portugal, Mexico, India, and South Africa in 2020.

“Our value proposition resonated with agents around the world, as we seamlessly opened in five new countries and gained domestic market share in our residential and commercial businesses,” Sanford said.

In addition to growing its residential real estate business, eXp World Holdings also scaled up its commercial real estate business into 29 states, with plans to hit all 50 by the end of 2021.

The company also acquired Showcase IDX to launch its consumer-facing search portal and acquired SUCCESS Enterprises and its personal development-focused media properties in 2020.

In the next year, eXp Realty plans to dive further into ancillary service offerings.

“We expect the expansion of our core residential brokerage in the U.S. and launch of operations in key international markets to continue throughout 2021, while also increasing adoption of our affiliated services businesses,” Jeff Whiteside, the CFO and chief collaboration officer of eXp World Holdings, said in a statement.

“By leveraging value-add and revenue-generating technologies that differentiate our tech-enabled platform, such as Virbela, the catalysts are in place to accelerate growth and increase our market share.”

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