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Artificial intelligence is impacting the way real estate agents conduct their marketing and how buyers find homes, according to Delta Media Group’s Real Estate Leadership AI survey.
The study blankets the industry’s attitudes on the adoption of artificial intelligence and its overall role in the real estate market. It was shared with Inman in an exclusive announcement.
Among Delta’s findings, a large majority of the industry is using AI to assist in marketing tasks, while its adoption to power back-office processes remains scant.
Delta Media Group AI survey results
“AI is no longer a new shiny object; it’s fast become an irreplaceable tool for brokerages and agents alike,” said Michael Minard, CEO and owner of Delta Media Group, in the release. “This year’s findings show AI is more integrated across brokerage operations, growing beyond marketing and content creation to areas like customer support and administrative automation.”
Delta spoke to 100 brokerage leaders to gather its data, stating its subjects are responsible for more than half of all U.S. real estate transactions in 2024. The group said that on a scale from one to 10, AI’s importance to the industry is at a 5.9, up just less than a point from this time last year.
The survey revealed that survey respondents think AI will be more integrated into the real estate market in the coming years, citing AI’s future importance at 7.2 out of 10, an increase of 22 percent. Age discrepancies are shrinking, too, with Delta finding no measurable differences among the age groups using AI in the workplace.
Delta Media Group AI survey respondents
Property descriptions are AI’s most common use in real estate, and an increase in its use for more sophisticated marketing tasks was also found in the survey. Other popular areas of application, according to Delta’s survey, include “client communications, data analysis, and automating administrative tasks.”
A finding that may surprise risk assessors throughout the greater business world is that concern with the risk of AI among Delta’s respondents is down. Real estate leaders worried about potential risk fell from 50.4 percent to 42.2 percent.
“Leaders of larger brokerages with higher transaction volumes report the least concern, citing better access to resources and safeguards,” the release stated.
The Financial Times reported in August of last year that some of America’s largest companies are growing more wary of the technology’s impact. It cited research by Arize AI.
“Overall, 56 percent of Fortune 500 companies cited AI as a ‘risk factor’ in their most recent annual reports. The figure is a striking jump from just 9 percent in 2022,” The Financial Times reported. “Other potential harms include reputational or operational issues, such as becoming ensnared in ethical concerns about AI’s potential impact on human rights, employment and privacy.”
Delta’s survey found that medium to large brokerages (101-500 agents; $101-$500 million in transaction volume) are more apt to integrate AI, while smaller companies are hampered by resource limitations. The report did not state, however, that smaller brokerages are less likely to be in need of AI’s efficiencies, given the more nimble nature of brokerages with fewer than 20 agents and less than $50 million in transaction volume.
Underscoring Delta Media Group’s survey is the market-rattling emergence of DeepSeek, a newly launched AI platform out of China set to face off directly with OpenAI, Google and Meta.
“American technology stocks tumbled in response, driven by fears that heavy spending on AI by Silicon Valley companies that has been championed by Donald Trump will fail to yield profits for investors,” The Telegraph reported.
The Washington Post reported that the NASDAQ fell close to 3 percent in early Monday trading. White House technology advisor Marc Andreessen called DeepSeek’s rollout “AI’s Sputnik moment.”
DeepSeek’s applications to real estate will likely emerge as the technology’s adoption grows. Meanwhile, OpenAI remains the most industry-friendly AI application.
