NASDAQ:REAX Real Brokerage Q2 2023 Earnings Report $4.67 +0.05 (+1.08%) Closing price 04/17/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$4.71 +0.04 (+0.86%) As of 04/17/2025 05:23 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Real Brokerage EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.02Consensus EPS -$0.03Beat/MissBeat by +$0.01One Year Ago EPSN/AReal Brokerage Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$185.33 millionExpected Revenue$135.31 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$50.02 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AReal Brokerage Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2023Date8/9/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, August 9, 2023Conference Call Time11:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsReal Brokerage's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Thursday, May 8, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 8:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Real Brokerage Q2 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrAugust 9, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Real Brokerage Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode, It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Jason Lee. Sir, the floor is yours. Speaker 100:00:19Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Real's Q2 2023 earnings call. With With me on the call today are Tamir Pollig, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Michelle Ressler, our Chief Financial Officer. Good morning, Real filed its financial statements and management discussion and analysis for the Q2 ended June 30, 2023 on SEDAR and EDGAR. These documents, along with the accompanying earnings press release, can be found on both SEDAR and EDGAR. Before I turn the call over to Tamir, I'd like to remind everyone that The company will be making statements about its future results and other forward looking statements during this call. Speaker 100:00:56Actual results may differ materially from these forward looking statements The risk factors that could cause these differences are detailed in our Canadian continuous disclosure documents and SEC reports. Disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward looking statements except as expressly required by law. Now with that, I'd I'd like to turn the call over to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tamir Polleg. Tamir, please proceed. Speaker 200:01:22Good morning, and thank you, Jason. During the Q2, Real once again delivered best in class growth with our agents closing a record number of transactions, translating through record revenue and adjusted EBITDA profitability. This comes despite a challenging market backdrop that has resulted in many other brokerages posting year over year declines. Meanwhile, We see our agent productivity stabilizing and believe there is further upside as the market volume rebounds. We are pleased to have Achieved the important adjusted EBITDA profitability milestone as communicated last quarter. Speaker 200:01:54This is the direct result of the impressive agent growth we've Our hard focus on maximizing our already efficient cost structure over the past year and the revenue generating changes we made to our model earlier this year. Due to the strong results this quarter and the strength of our platform, we anticipate remaining adjusted EBITDA positive in the back half of the year. To provide context to our operating performance during the quarter, let's review the state of the market. Elevated mortgage rates Continue to depress residential housing activity due both to affordability concerns on the buy side and the reluctance to give up low rate mortgages On the supply side, U. S. Speaker 200:02:35Existing home sales were down 21% year over year and 2% quarter over quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis. However, our strong agent growth in conjunction with the seasonal upswing in home sale volume resulted in another record beating quarter for real. Revenue for the quarter topped $185,000,000 which represents a 65% year over year increase and a 72% sequential increase from the prior quarter. Against this backdrop, we're proud to be the premier destination for productive agents. During the quarter, we grew our agent base by nearly 1500 agents, bringing the total number on our platform to just under 11,500 agents. Speaker 200:03:21This represents a 105% increase from the Q2 of 2022. Although per agent productivity still lags where we were in the first As of 2022, we saw a meaningful rebound that drove volume for the quarter to a record 17,537 closed transactions, which is 72% higher compared to the same quarter of 2022 and 60% higher sequentially. We also continue to expand our geographic footprint. During the quarter, we opened in Delaware and in South Dakota In the U. S. Speaker 200:03:54As well as Manitoba in Canada, we now have agents operating in 47 states, Washington, D. C. And 4 Canadian provinces. We expect to be in all 50 states by the end of the year. While most of our brokerage growth ahead lies in expanding In our existing markets, we are excited to be nearing this important operational milestone. Speaker 200:04:16Agent churn was 6.5% for the quarter, an improvement from 8.3% during the prior consecutive quarter and 7.2% in Q2 2022. Our revenue churn, which we define as the revenue generated by churn agents over the prior two quarters, improved to 3.8% from 4.3% in Q1 2023, but remains above 2.1% in Q2 2022. To put this into context, the impact from churn is incredibly low compared to the impact The impressive inflow of agents joining our platform. Nonetheless, we have also been actively reviewing our onboarding and training procedures to make sure that Every agent that joins our platform is empowered from day 1 to be successful at Real. The bottom line is that We are focused on developing programs and resources to help our agents run their businesses effectively. Speaker 200:05:13In just the past few months, We've launched a quarterly agent recognition program to celebrate success and foster community. We have overhauled our marketing center to make it easier for to discover and distribute content and we launched a new agent onboarding program with weekly training. I would also like to provide an update on several of our important initiatives. Yesterday, we announced the full public rollout of LEO, Our new AI powered virtual concierge that is fully integrated into our recent transaction management platform. Leo Can answer agent questions in real time 20 fourseven leveraging Real's extensive proprietary knowledge base to create a completely customized experience. Speaker 200:05:55This release has been gone through an alpha testing phase with a select group of agents and we are excited to now offer this to all agents. This will save them time and make our already lean support team even more efficient, which fundamentally aligns with our core philosophy of becoming the We'll continue to improve and add features to LEO, ensuring that our agents and employees realize the full potential that AI has to offer. We are also working hard to lay the foundations for We have spoken about in prior calls. Last year, we acquired Expa Title and Lemon Drew Lending, which we have rebranded as Real Title and One Real Mortgage respectively. These acquisitions serve as the bedrock to the one stop shop home buying experience we are developing. Speaker 200:06:48While the revenue contribution from these divisions is still relatively small, They are essential building blocks and are growing fast. We are pleased to announce that we expect to be releasing the initial version of our consumer facing app With an integrated mortgage application process at our annual RISE conference taking place from October 22 through 24th. As I've said before, our one stop shop vision truly represents a revolution in the way people will buy and sell homes. We view this initial app release as the first step in a multiyear journey and the timeline we followed reflects our commitment to making sure that We built this correctly from the onset. We are excited to share the app, and we'll have more to share on several other important initiatives at the conference in October. Speaker 200:07:37And with that, I'll turn it over to Michelle for the financial update. Michelle? Speaker 300:07:44Thank you, Tamir, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. I'll start by reviewing some of our key financial results for the Q2. The total value of homes transacted over our platform surged nearly 7,000,000,000 In the Q2, which represents a 66% year over year increase. The total number of transactions on our platform during the quarter increased to 17,530 A 72% year over year increase. The median sale price of properties sold by our agents was $369,000 which represents a modest 1.6% decline compared to the same quarter in 2022, in line with the broader market trend. Speaker 300:08:20Revenue increased to $185,000,000 a 65% increase compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, gross profit increased 91% year over year to 17,800,000 Our gross margin expanded year over year to 9.6% from 8.3% in Q2 2022. The improvement from a year ago reflects a combination of greater fee income associated with the model changes we outlined on last quarter's call, as well as the still small but growing revenue from our higher gross margin title and mortgage businesses. As of June 30, 2023, 10.2% of our agents had exceeded their commission cap, a notable increase from 8.2% as of March 31, but still short of the 10.5% level for the same period in 2022. The capped cohort represented 52% of commission revenue in Q2 2023 compared to 53% in Q2 2022 and 43% in Q1 2023. Speaker 300:09:17The fee income is particularly worth highlighting this quarter. While still relatively small as a percentage of total revenue, the income generated by agent fees totaled $1,400,000 during the quarter, which represents a 100 and 21 Year over year increase and a 49% increase from Q1 2023. Importantly, this is revenue that essentially flows down directly to our bottom line and is reflective of the fee adjustments announced earlier this year. Meanwhile, the revenue generated by our title and mortgage businesses continues to ramp up. We view these businesses as building blocks for a one stop shop consumer experience and are taking care to execute thoughtfully in how we integrate and these operations into our existing platform. Speaker 300:09:57We continue to explore other initiatives to enhance our margin that we look forward to sharing more details on in upcoming quarters. Meanwhile, we saw agent productivity rebound seasonally even as it remains suppressed compared with last year. Commission revenue per productive agent, a core measure of agent productivity, rebounded to $34,700 compared to $26,000 in Q1 of 2023, but still behind $41,400 in Q2 of 2022. The number of transactions closed by this cohort improved to 3.4% compared to 2.7% in the prior quarter period and 3.8% in the prior year period. To strip out the effect of new agents joining, we also track the commission revenue per productive agent already on our platform at the beginning of the quarter. Speaker 300:10:44This is similar to a same store sales figure reported by the retail industry. This cohort closed 4.4 transactions generated $45,500 on average compared to 4.3 transactions generating $46,700 in Q2 of 2022. We noted productivity was stabilizing on last quarter's call and we see considerable productivity upside as market conditions improve. Looking at the geographies we operate in, 9.9% of our U. S. Speaker 300:11:14Agents ended the quarter with capped status, A slight increase from 9.7 percent in Q2 of 2022 and up from 8.2% in Q1 of 2023. Our Canadian Capped agents experienced a more meaningful increase with 12.9% ending the quarter with Capped status versus 7.9% at the end of Q1. Although this is still well below the 20% level in Q2 of 2022. Canada now represents 10% of our agent base, up from 8% 1 year ago, accounting for 15% of commission revenue in Q2 2023 compared to 18% in Q2 of 2022 and 11% in Q1 of 2023. Our highest earning Elite agents were steady quarter over quarter at 0.5% of our agent base, down from 1.6% in Q2 2022. Speaker 300:12:03These agents generated 10% of total commission revenue, up from 8.5% the prior quarter, but down from 19.4% in Q2 of 2022. The requirement to achieve and maintain elite status are reserved for our most productive agents In Q2 2023, 56% of commission revenue was generated by our agents This has remained Relatively unchanged each quarter over the past year and does not include revenue that we book related to agent referrals, which accounts for approximately 2% of the overall total. Shifting over to OpEx. Our total operating costs for the quarter, including revenue share, were $21,500,000 This represents 11.6 percent of revenue compared with 12% in Q2 2022. Our operating expense per transaction excluding revenue Share, which is a core component of our agent incentive declined 12% year over year to $7.88 We are excited about the significant progress we've made optimizing our Our Our revenue share expense, which is our largest operating cost, was $7,700,000 compared to $4,400,000 in the prior year period. Speaker 300:13:32Revenue share expense per average agent was $7.15 down 17% year over year from $8.61 Note that compared to prior earnings calls, this metric is based on the number of average agents during the quarter rather than the total at the end of the quarter, As we believe this is more indicative of the underlying trend given the high growth of our agent base. As a reminder, We treat revenue share as a marketing expense since the benefit of our sponsorship structure not only helps attract new agents, but also drives retention and higher productivity across our platform. Our headcount ratio, which we define as full time employees, excluding real title and 1 real mortgage employees, Divided by the number of agents that are currently on our platform improved to 1 to 113 compared to 1 to 62 in Q2 of 2022, but remains relatively flat compared to 1 to 114 in Q1 of 2023. While we have continued to experience Strong agent growth. We also expanded our hiring during the quarter, particularly on our technology team as we invest in the next growth phase for Real. Speaker 300:14:39We continue to experience increasing returns to scale for our brokerage business. The size of our transaction processing team remained at 9 employees, unchanged on both the quarter over quarter and year over year basis. These employees processed all 17,537 transactions that closed during the quarter For 19.49 transactions per employee, we don't anticipate needing to make any significant additions as we continue to grow our transaction base. We believe that these metrics just highlight the efficiency and scalability of our platform that is made possible by the strength of our tech stack. We view this as one of the biggest competitive advantages for our business and this should become even more apparent as we continue to scale. Speaker 300:15:24Real's net loss for the quarter was $4,100,000 compared to a $4,200,000 net loss in Q2 2022. This translates to a loss per share of $0.02 in both periods. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was positive 2 point $6,000,000 compared to $583,000 in Q2 of 2022. This represents an inflection point for our company that we have been talking about for several quarters. Having achieved this milestone, we expect to be adjusted EBITDA profitable for the full year 2023. Speaker 300:15:55Turning to our financial position, Our unrestricted cash and investments balance increased $8,600,000 to $28,100,000 as of June 30, up from $19,500,000 as of March 31st, this consists of $17,200,000 of unrestricted cash and $10,900,000 in short term investments. Before I close out my comments, I would also like to note that on July 28, we announced that we intend to voluntary delist from the Toronto Stock Exchange, following a review of the costs and benefits of maintaining a dual listing. Our Canadian business is growing rapidly and we will continue to invest in this region. This consolidation of share trading onto a single exchange simply reflects our dedication to being as cost conscious and efficient as possible. Shares will be delisted effective as of close of markets on August 11 and will continue to trade on NASDAQ Capital Market under the same ticker. Speaker 300:16:47This concludes my financial remarks. I will now ask the operator to open up the line for Q and A. Operator, can you please poll for questions? Operator00:16:56Certainly, everyone at this time will be conducting a question and answer session. Your first question is coming from Darren Aftahi from ROTH MKN. Your line is live. Speaker 400:17:28Hi, Speaker 500:17:28guys. Good morning. Nice quarter. Good to see the Positive cash flow. Couple, if I may. Speaker 500:17:36Just kind of big picture, I think you've added in the last Four quarters like well over 1500 agents, and I appreciate that your economic model Probably more attractive than some other legacy players in the space, but there are peers that have kind of similar offerings. I guess maybe Tamir, strategically, one, why do you think you're just seeing so much traction in terms of agent growth when other brokers and brokerages aren't. And then 2, could you just maybe talk about the Pipeline of some of these bigger agencies that might be coming on in the next 6 to 12 months and kind Speaker 600:18:19of how that compares to the prior 12 months? Speaker 200:18:24Sure. Thank you, Darren. So yes, I think that as we communicated before, we believe that our model Just looking for more cost effective solutions that just give them more value at a lower cost. And I think that this is what has been driving more agents through Our way, I can tell you that what we've been sensing in the past month or 2 Is that a lot of those larger teams are now really hurting just because of production and what we're hearing from them is, yes, we are intending Join Real, but first, we want to stabilize our businesses. So what they're telling us is that they're going to join in September or October. Speaker 200:19:09So we do feel that most of the large teams are kind of feeling the pain in the market at the moment. And at the same time, we also see Churn of nonproductive agents rising. So for example, last quarter, about 10% of our churn, maybe a little bit more than that, were agents that just Declare that they are leaving the industry compared to about 4% in the prior quarters. So we do see more agents leaving the industry Overall, but in terms of pipeline, we have a very strong pipeline of both individual agents and high performing teams. As you know, We added the biggest performing team so far a couple of weeks ago in California doing over $1,000,000,000 in annual sales. Speaker 200:19:50So we do see larger teams joining in terms of production and we have a solid pipeline. Speaker 500:19:58That's helpful. And then maybe just one last one for me, a financial one for Michelle. Maybe if my math is correct, I think you grew sales of roughly $73,000,000 year on year and that yields like a 6.4% EBITDA yield on that Revenue growth. I guess my question is, is that the type of leverage we can expect From the company going forward, I. E. Speaker 500:20:24That 6% yield is a good bogey to kind of use and model Or are there areas of reinvestment that may lower that number going forward? Thanks. Speaker 300:20:36Hey, Darren. Great to hear from you. Yes, I mean, we've been laying the groundwork for adjusted beta profitability for a while. I think that, that is A good indicator of where we can expect it to be for the remaining quarters, but there is also a seasonality component to it. So you should take that into account. Speaker 300:20:55If you think about OpEx going forward, I think last It's down a little bit compared to last year. So it was 11.6 12% in the same quarter last year. So we're talking a little bit ahead of last year, but you can adjust your it's a good model for OpEx as a percentage of revenue. Speaker 200:21:21Great. Thank you. Operator00:21:24Thank you. Your next question is coming from Stephen Sheldon from William Blair. Your line is Speaker 700:21:31live. Hey, thanks for taking my questions. First one here, great to hear about the pipeline with larger teams. Also seem like the data implies that your average home price in 2Q transaction volume was up quite a bit sequentially. So curious, are you seeing a move up in the price range of homes that your agents are transacting in? Speaker 700:21:51And if so, is that something that's Just naturally happening or is there also any support from adding more agents focused on higher end homes, luxury homes to your platform? Just any detail there. Speaker 200:22:04Thanks, Stephen. Actually, if we compare the average home price sold on our From last quarter compared to the Q2 of 2022, we see a 0.8% decline. So that's kind of Quite in line with the market conditions. We are seeing prices going up nationally. So I expect that the Median or average price point will increase accordingly. Speaker 200:22:31At the same time, we are seeing more of, let's say, Luxury agents joining us. We had a big announcement of a person an agent called Kofi that joined us last week, huge splash. He's focused on the luxury market, and we think that, that will attract more agents that are just focusing on higher price points. So I wouldn't expect the big jump, but probably kind of a steady increase in the price point that we're handling Speaker 700:23:04Got it. That's helpful. And then it sounds like we'll get the full release, the consumer facing solution here in the fall, Great. Just curious what the initial feedback you've gotten from those consumers. I think you've been running some beta programs there in recent months. Speaker 700:23:18So curious And what feedback you've received from consumers that have been participating in that, and kind of how you say as you kind of roll this out, What do you think it will allow your company to do? Speaker 200:23:33I have to say that we are extremely excited about the consumer facing app that we're building and we have to Remember that this is something that nobody has tried before. So there are a lot of unknowns and a lot of things that we just have to try by ourselves and we don't have any data points to rely on. This is why it's so complicated and it's taking a little bit of time. But yes, we have been experimenting with some components. We do not have a ready app. Speaker 200:23:55So The app was not used by the consumers. However, some of the components were used by the consumers. For example, our FAST 14 mortgage offering, which allows agents A guaranteed closing within 14 days from their loan application, and we have done a few of those, and the feedback was Just amazing. I mean, both our agents and their clients were just amazed by the fact that we were able to close on one occasion in 10 days. So Being able to provide a clear to close within 10 days of loan application is something that doesn't happen every day, And we want to make it standard. Speaker 200:24:33Long term, I think that we are starting to see a future where the home buying journey is just Seamless and convenient and quick and just eliminate all of the friction and the pain that exists at the moment. So I think that as the time goes by, We are getting more and more energized and excited about the consumer facing offering that we're building. Speaker 700:24:56Great. Thank you. Operator00:24:59Thank you. Your next question is coming from David Marsh from Singular Research. Your line is live. Speaker 600:25:06Hey, good morning, guys. Congratulations on the quarter and achieving EBITDA positive. It's an impressive accomplishment. Let me start with the title business. Could you provide us an update with regards to the title business And how many states are rolled out in and how many transactions have actually run through it in the most recent quarter? Speaker 200:25:34Sure. So, retail is now operating in 11 states. We added a few states during the past couple of months. What we are now focusing on is the JV offering to our highest performing teams and agents. So about 95% of the revenue last quarter came from The JVs and revenue grew by 87% year over year. Speaker 200:25:56So we are very happy with the growth. We think that there's Tremendous upside still that we can realize over there. Revenue was close to $1,000,000 on RealTitle side, And we're just working very closely with our highest performing teams just to have them sign up for the JVs and start funding the transactions over. We see the attach ratio on the JV at about 70%, which is super high. And it's just about scaling that business right now. Speaker 200:26:23We have to remember that, that business is It's in its infancy, so it takes a little bit of time to ramp it up. Looking a little bit ahead into the future, we do see a world in which Tylo is just a component, a seamless component in the home buying journey. So it will just be integrated in our Automated systems and it'll just be a check the box thing for consumers. So the longer term strategy is just to embed it into the consumer Speaker 600:26:56Got it. Got it. And then same question with regards to the mortgage business. Speaker 400:27:03Sure. Speaker 200:27:03So we acquired the mortgage business about 7 months ago. It took us a little bit of time to Get them immersed in IntuREAL. Revenue in the second quarter was a little bit over $350,000 That was more than 100% increase Compared to the Q1 of 2023, so we're really happy with the results. We're now exploring also a JV opportunity, just allowing our agents to become partners in the mortgage company as well. But as I said, the more exciting side of the mortgage businesses, everything that we're building on the technology side and just trying the fast protein offering and embedding that into the consumer facing app. Speaker 200:27:46So we do see that business scaling at the second half of the year, so revenue will continue to go up. But Alongside that, we are building that into the consumer facing app as well. Speaker 600:27:58And how many states are you offering the mortgage platform in at the moment? Speaker 200:28:04I believe it's right now at 12 states. 12 states. Okay, great. All right. Well, that's Speaker 600:28:12primarily What I have at the top of mind, I guess, just lastly, I mean, can you just talk about overall state of Of the real estate business and in terms of direction, not just transactions, but I mean, are you starting to see any more listings on a relative basis or is supply still pretty tight? And just talk about What your expectations would be for recovery there and how that would play out in terms of hand in hand with what the Fed is doing and so on? Speaker 200:28:48Yes. Good question. So the market is extremely tight on both ends, both on supply side and demand side. In the beginning of June, the middle of June, what we have seen is just a drop in demand due to the rising rates. So mortgage rates were at around 7%, a little bit over that. Speaker 200:29:06So for about 2 to 3 weeks, we have seen a decline in new home sales In the market, which was kind of interesting, we are now seeing that rebounding. What we have seen on our platform in the past 3 weeks, I would say, is a Spike in new listings coming into the market. So that was an interesting trend that we still don't have market data like overall national market data about. We can only speak about what's happening on our platform with our agents, and we have seen a spike in new listings coming into the market. I don't know if that's indicative of the future, But I think that as soon as we understand what the Fed is going to do with the rates and the market gets a little bit clarity, I think that We will see mortgage rates stabilizing and maybe even decreasing a little bit towards the end of the year, and that will be a positive. Speaker 200:29:54But At the moment, we're seeing just solid demand, not enough supply. I think that 37% Homes are now selling over asking price, which is interesting, and we are also seeing Price is starting to go up nationally, so interesting market dynamics. Speaker 600:30:17Yes, that's really great color. I appreciate that Sameer. Again, congrats on the quarter, guys. Speaker 200:30:23Thank you, Dave. Operator00:30:26Thank you. Your next question is coming from Tom White from D. A. Davidson. Your line is live. Speaker 400:30:37Great. Thanks guys for taking my questions. 2 if I could. 1, we're seeing some signs that the momentum that you guys have been enjoying is triggering a bit of a kind of competitive response at some of the other kind of brokerages with similar models to yours in terms of them having to kind of sweeten the value prop For their agents, Tamir, I'd be curious to hear about how you think about kind of needing to stay ahead of some of those maybe larger competitors When it comes to kind of the overall appeal or the overall value prop or financial package for your agents, how do you think about needing to kind of stay ahead or Maybe your willingness to do so or ability to without kind of impacting maybe the margin ramp of the business? And then I just have a follow-up. Speaker 400:31:24Sure. Speaker 500:31:26So we are very happy Speaker 200:31:28to see other brokerages following our path and doing some of the things that we are doing. I think that, that benefit With the agents and at the end of the day, everything we do is for our agents. And if other agents in other brokerages can benefit from that, That's great. We don't see any need to change anything right now. We don't really feel that pressure that you're talking about. Speaker 200:31:48We think that we have An amazing offering for agents and a lot of agents are buying into that. I understand why others want to make some changes to be able to offer something that is close to what offering, I think that we have a huge competitive advantage when it comes to technology and it will probably take others a few years to catch up to that. So Not really concerned on that front. But overall, I think that, yes, other brokerages are hurting and They're feeling the pain and maybe they need to do things to kind of alter their value proposition. I don't feel that this is the case with Rio. Speaker 400:32:23Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you. And then just second, congrats on the EBITDA profitability. And There was nice kind of gross margin expansion year over year in the quarter. Speaker 400:32:36I imagine that the fee model changes were a driver of that, maybe Fewer agents or a lower proportion of agents capping. Can you help us think about the potential for gross margin expansion Kind of next year or after like once you lap the fee model changes, just kind of curious whether You think maybe by this time next year, things like ancillary services, mortgage and title or maybe even things like instant payments might be Rant to a degree where we can kind of continue this upward march on gross margins? Thanks. Speaker 200:33:16Sure. I can start and maybe Michel would want to add to that. I think that we have a few initiatives In the pipeline on further monetization of the platform, I think that if you look at a brokerage, The vast majority of the revenue is kind of pass through. So the agent portion of revenue is not monetized at any other brokerage, and this is something that we're looking at And just exploring opportunities to monetize that because just think about it real and I'm just throwing out a number closing, Let's say $500,000,000 $600,000,000 this year, about 90% of that revenue is pass through. And we think that there are ways to monetize that Huge portion of the revenue and we will be coming up with some initiatives towards the end of the year. Speaker 200:33:59So I think that moving forward, if we take that into account and we also take our Title business and mortgage businesses into account. I think that there's a lot of upside in margins. I don't want to state the number and we're not really providing any guidance at the moment, but I think that Positive trend will continue, and we will probably see a more meaningful Increasing gross margins sometime next year. Speaker 400:34:26Great. That's very interesting. Thanks, Sameer. Thanks, Vishal. Thanks. Operator00:34:32Thank you very much. Mr. Li, there appears to be no further questions. Speaker 100:34:38If you have any additional questions on today's earnings release, please feel free to contact me directly. Operator, would you please give the conference call replay instructions once again? Thanks. Operator00:34:49Absolutely. In order to access the replay, you need to call 877-481-40110 with a confirmation code of 48,756. Once again, the replay phone number is 8 77,481,401,010 and the confirmation code 48,756. The replay will be available at 1 pm Eastern today. Ladies and gentlemen, you may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Operator00:35:22Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallReal Brokerage Q2 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K) Real Brokerage Earnings HeadlinesThe Real Brokerage to Host First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference CallApril 10, 2025 | financialpost.comReal Brokerage: More Valuable Than I Thought (Rating Upgrade)March 27, 2025 | seekingalpha.comMy prediction is coming trueWe've developed a surprisingly effective way to see which stocks could double during massive shake-ups, by using a secret we tested against every horrible thing that's happened to our financial system since 1991.April 20, 2025 | InvestorPlace (Ad)Q4 Earnings Highlights: The Real Brokerage (NASDAQ:REAX) Vs The Rest Of The Real Estate Services StocksMarch 27, 2025 | msn.comReal's February Agent Survey: Inventory Rises as Listing Times LengthenMarch 19, 2025 | businesswire.com1 Consumer Stock with Exciting Potential and 2 to Turn DownMarch 18, 2025 | uk.finance.yahoo.comSee More Real Brokerage Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Real Brokerage? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Real Brokerage and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Real BrokerageReal Brokerage (NASDAQ:REAX), together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate technology company in the United States and Canada. It operates in three segments: North American Brokerage, Real Title, and One Real Mortgage. It offers brokerage, title, and mortgage broker services. 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There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Real Brokerage Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode, It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Jason Lee. Sir, the floor is yours. Speaker 100:00:19Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Real's Q2 2023 earnings call. With With me on the call today are Tamir Pollig, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Michelle Ressler, our Chief Financial Officer. Good morning, Real filed its financial statements and management discussion and analysis for the Q2 ended June 30, 2023 on SEDAR and EDGAR. These documents, along with the accompanying earnings press release, can be found on both SEDAR and EDGAR. Before I turn the call over to Tamir, I'd like to remind everyone that The company will be making statements about its future results and other forward looking statements during this call. Speaker 100:00:56Actual results may differ materially from these forward looking statements The risk factors that could cause these differences are detailed in our Canadian continuous disclosure documents and SEC reports. Disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward looking statements except as expressly required by law. Now with that, I'd I'd like to turn the call over to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tamir Polleg. Tamir, please proceed. Speaker 200:01:22Good morning, and thank you, Jason. During the Q2, Real once again delivered best in class growth with our agents closing a record number of transactions, translating through record revenue and adjusted EBITDA profitability. This comes despite a challenging market backdrop that has resulted in many other brokerages posting year over year declines. Meanwhile, We see our agent productivity stabilizing and believe there is further upside as the market volume rebounds. We are pleased to have Achieved the important adjusted EBITDA profitability milestone as communicated last quarter. Speaker 200:01:54This is the direct result of the impressive agent growth we've Our hard focus on maximizing our already efficient cost structure over the past year and the revenue generating changes we made to our model earlier this year. Due to the strong results this quarter and the strength of our platform, we anticipate remaining adjusted EBITDA positive in the back half of the year. To provide context to our operating performance during the quarter, let's review the state of the market. Elevated mortgage rates Continue to depress residential housing activity due both to affordability concerns on the buy side and the reluctance to give up low rate mortgages On the supply side, U. S. Speaker 200:02:35Existing home sales were down 21% year over year and 2% quarter over quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis. However, our strong agent growth in conjunction with the seasonal upswing in home sale volume resulted in another record beating quarter for real. Revenue for the quarter topped $185,000,000 which represents a 65% year over year increase and a 72% sequential increase from the prior quarter. Against this backdrop, we're proud to be the premier destination for productive agents. During the quarter, we grew our agent base by nearly 1500 agents, bringing the total number on our platform to just under 11,500 agents. Speaker 200:03:21This represents a 105% increase from the Q2 of 2022. Although per agent productivity still lags where we were in the first As of 2022, we saw a meaningful rebound that drove volume for the quarter to a record 17,537 closed transactions, which is 72% higher compared to the same quarter of 2022 and 60% higher sequentially. We also continue to expand our geographic footprint. During the quarter, we opened in Delaware and in South Dakota In the U. S. Speaker 200:03:54As well as Manitoba in Canada, we now have agents operating in 47 states, Washington, D. C. And 4 Canadian provinces. We expect to be in all 50 states by the end of the year. While most of our brokerage growth ahead lies in expanding In our existing markets, we are excited to be nearing this important operational milestone. Speaker 200:04:16Agent churn was 6.5% for the quarter, an improvement from 8.3% during the prior consecutive quarter and 7.2% in Q2 2022. Our revenue churn, which we define as the revenue generated by churn agents over the prior two quarters, improved to 3.8% from 4.3% in Q1 2023, but remains above 2.1% in Q2 2022. To put this into context, the impact from churn is incredibly low compared to the impact The impressive inflow of agents joining our platform. Nonetheless, we have also been actively reviewing our onboarding and training procedures to make sure that Every agent that joins our platform is empowered from day 1 to be successful at Real. The bottom line is that We are focused on developing programs and resources to help our agents run their businesses effectively. Speaker 200:05:13In just the past few months, We've launched a quarterly agent recognition program to celebrate success and foster community. We have overhauled our marketing center to make it easier for to discover and distribute content and we launched a new agent onboarding program with weekly training. I would also like to provide an update on several of our important initiatives. Yesterday, we announced the full public rollout of LEO, Our new AI powered virtual concierge that is fully integrated into our recent transaction management platform. Leo Can answer agent questions in real time 20 fourseven leveraging Real's extensive proprietary knowledge base to create a completely customized experience. Speaker 200:05:55This release has been gone through an alpha testing phase with a select group of agents and we are excited to now offer this to all agents. This will save them time and make our already lean support team even more efficient, which fundamentally aligns with our core philosophy of becoming the We'll continue to improve and add features to LEO, ensuring that our agents and employees realize the full potential that AI has to offer. We are also working hard to lay the foundations for We have spoken about in prior calls. Last year, we acquired Expa Title and Lemon Drew Lending, which we have rebranded as Real Title and One Real Mortgage respectively. These acquisitions serve as the bedrock to the one stop shop home buying experience we are developing. Speaker 200:06:48While the revenue contribution from these divisions is still relatively small, They are essential building blocks and are growing fast. We are pleased to announce that we expect to be releasing the initial version of our consumer facing app With an integrated mortgage application process at our annual RISE conference taking place from October 22 through 24th. As I've said before, our one stop shop vision truly represents a revolution in the way people will buy and sell homes. We view this initial app release as the first step in a multiyear journey and the timeline we followed reflects our commitment to making sure that We built this correctly from the onset. We are excited to share the app, and we'll have more to share on several other important initiatives at the conference in October. Speaker 200:07:37And with that, I'll turn it over to Michelle for the financial update. Michelle? Speaker 300:07:44Thank you, Tamir, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. I'll start by reviewing some of our key financial results for the Q2. The total value of homes transacted over our platform surged nearly 7,000,000,000 In the Q2, which represents a 66% year over year increase. The total number of transactions on our platform during the quarter increased to 17,530 A 72% year over year increase. The median sale price of properties sold by our agents was $369,000 which represents a modest 1.6% decline compared to the same quarter in 2022, in line with the broader market trend. Speaker 300:08:20Revenue increased to $185,000,000 a 65% increase compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, gross profit increased 91% year over year to 17,800,000 Our gross margin expanded year over year to 9.6% from 8.3% in Q2 2022. The improvement from a year ago reflects a combination of greater fee income associated with the model changes we outlined on last quarter's call, as well as the still small but growing revenue from our higher gross margin title and mortgage businesses. As of June 30, 2023, 10.2% of our agents had exceeded their commission cap, a notable increase from 8.2% as of March 31, but still short of the 10.5% level for the same period in 2022. The capped cohort represented 52% of commission revenue in Q2 2023 compared to 53% in Q2 2022 and 43% in Q1 2023. Speaker 300:09:17The fee income is particularly worth highlighting this quarter. While still relatively small as a percentage of total revenue, the income generated by agent fees totaled $1,400,000 during the quarter, which represents a 100 and 21 Year over year increase and a 49% increase from Q1 2023. Importantly, this is revenue that essentially flows down directly to our bottom line and is reflective of the fee adjustments announced earlier this year. Meanwhile, the revenue generated by our title and mortgage businesses continues to ramp up. We view these businesses as building blocks for a one stop shop consumer experience and are taking care to execute thoughtfully in how we integrate and these operations into our existing platform. Speaker 300:09:57We continue to explore other initiatives to enhance our margin that we look forward to sharing more details on in upcoming quarters. Meanwhile, we saw agent productivity rebound seasonally even as it remains suppressed compared with last year. Commission revenue per productive agent, a core measure of agent productivity, rebounded to $34,700 compared to $26,000 in Q1 of 2023, but still behind $41,400 in Q2 of 2022. The number of transactions closed by this cohort improved to 3.4% compared to 2.7% in the prior quarter period and 3.8% in the prior year period. To strip out the effect of new agents joining, we also track the commission revenue per productive agent already on our platform at the beginning of the quarter. Speaker 300:10:44This is similar to a same store sales figure reported by the retail industry. This cohort closed 4.4 transactions generated $45,500 on average compared to 4.3 transactions generating $46,700 in Q2 of 2022. We noted productivity was stabilizing on last quarter's call and we see considerable productivity upside as market conditions improve. Looking at the geographies we operate in, 9.9% of our U. S. Speaker 300:11:14Agents ended the quarter with capped status, A slight increase from 9.7 percent in Q2 of 2022 and up from 8.2% in Q1 of 2023. Our Canadian Capped agents experienced a more meaningful increase with 12.9% ending the quarter with Capped status versus 7.9% at the end of Q1. Although this is still well below the 20% level in Q2 of 2022. Canada now represents 10% of our agent base, up from 8% 1 year ago, accounting for 15% of commission revenue in Q2 2023 compared to 18% in Q2 of 2022 and 11% in Q1 of 2023. Our highest earning Elite agents were steady quarter over quarter at 0.5% of our agent base, down from 1.6% in Q2 2022. Speaker 300:12:03These agents generated 10% of total commission revenue, up from 8.5% the prior quarter, but down from 19.4% in Q2 of 2022. The requirement to achieve and maintain elite status are reserved for our most productive agents In Q2 2023, 56% of commission revenue was generated by our agents This has remained Relatively unchanged each quarter over the past year and does not include revenue that we book related to agent referrals, which accounts for approximately 2% of the overall total. Shifting over to OpEx. Our total operating costs for the quarter, including revenue share, were $21,500,000 This represents 11.6 percent of revenue compared with 12% in Q2 2022. Our operating expense per transaction excluding revenue Share, which is a core component of our agent incentive declined 12% year over year to $7.88 We are excited about the significant progress we've made optimizing our Our Our revenue share expense, which is our largest operating cost, was $7,700,000 compared to $4,400,000 in the prior year period. Speaker 300:13:32Revenue share expense per average agent was $7.15 down 17% year over year from $8.61 Note that compared to prior earnings calls, this metric is based on the number of average agents during the quarter rather than the total at the end of the quarter, As we believe this is more indicative of the underlying trend given the high growth of our agent base. As a reminder, We treat revenue share as a marketing expense since the benefit of our sponsorship structure not only helps attract new agents, but also drives retention and higher productivity across our platform. Our headcount ratio, which we define as full time employees, excluding real title and 1 real mortgage employees, Divided by the number of agents that are currently on our platform improved to 1 to 113 compared to 1 to 62 in Q2 of 2022, but remains relatively flat compared to 1 to 114 in Q1 of 2023. While we have continued to experience Strong agent growth. We also expanded our hiring during the quarter, particularly on our technology team as we invest in the next growth phase for Real. Speaker 300:14:39We continue to experience increasing returns to scale for our brokerage business. The size of our transaction processing team remained at 9 employees, unchanged on both the quarter over quarter and year over year basis. These employees processed all 17,537 transactions that closed during the quarter For 19.49 transactions per employee, we don't anticipate needing to make any significant additions as we continue to grow our transaction base. We believe that these metrics just highlight the efficiency and scalability of our platform that is made possible by the strength of our tech stack. We view this as one of the biggest competitive advantages for our business and this should become even more apparent as we continue to scale. Speaker 300:15:24Real's net loss for the quarter was $4,100,000 compared to a $4,200,000 net loss in Q2 2022. This translates to a loss per share of $0.02 in both periods. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was positive 2 point $6,000,000 compared to $583,000 in Q2 of 2022. This represents an inflection point for our company that we have been talking about for several quarters. Having achieved this milestone, we expect to be adjusted EBITDA profitable for the full year 2023. Speaker 300:15:55Turning to our financial position, Our unrestricted cash and investments balance increased $8,600,000 to $28,100,000 as of June 30, up from $19,500,000 as of March 31st, this consists of $17,200,000 of unrestricted cash and $10,900,000 in short term investments. Before I close out my comments, I would also like to note that on July 28, we announced that we intend to voluntary delist from the Toronto Stock Exchange, following a review of the costs and benefits of maintaining a dual listing. Our Canadian business is growing rapidly and we will continue to invest in this region. This consolidation of share trading onto a single exchange simply reflects our dedication to being as cost conscious and efficient as possible. Shares will be delisted effective as of close of markets on August 11 and will continue to trade on NASDAQ Capital Market under the same ticker. Speaker 300:16:47This concludes my financial remarks. I will now ask the operator to open up the line for Q and A. Operator, can you please poll for questions? Operator00:16:56Certainly, everyone at this time will be conducting a question and answer session. Your first question is coming from Darren Aftahi from ROTH MKN. Your line is live. Speaker 400:17:28Hi, Speaker 500:17:28guys. Good morning. Nice quarter. Good to see the Positive cash flow. Couple, if I may. Speaker 500:17:36Just kind of big picture, I think you've added in the last Four quarters like well over 1500 agents, and I appreciate that your economic model Probably more attractive than some other legacy players in the space, but there are peers that have kind of similar offerings. I guess maybe Tamir, strategically, one, why do you think you're just seeing so much traction in terms of agent growth when other brokers and brokerages aren't. And then 2, could you just maybe talk about the Pipeline of some of these bigger agencies that might be coming on in the next 6 to 12 months and kind Speaker 600:18:19of how that compares to the prior 12 months? Speaker 200:18:24Sure. Thank you, Darren. So yes, I think that as we communicated before, we believe that our model Just looking for more cost effective solutions that just give them more value at a lower cost. And I think that this is what has been driving more agents through Our way, I can tell you that what we've been sensing in the past month or 2 Is that a lot of those larger teams are now really hurting just because of production and what we're hearing from them is, yes, we are intending Join Real, but first, we want to stabilize our businesses. So what they're telling us is that they're going to join in September or October. Speaker 200:19:09So we do feel that most of the large teams are kind of feeling the pain in the market at the moment. And at the same time, we also see Churn of nonproductive agents rising. So for example, last quarter, about 10% of our churn, maybe a little bit more than that, were agents that just Declare that they are leaving the industry compared to about 4% in the prior quarters. So we do see more agents leaving the industry Overall, but in terms of pipeline, we have a very strong pipeline of both individual agents and high performing teams. As you know, We added the biggest performing team so far a couple of weeks ago in California doing over $1,000,000,000 in annual sales. Speaker 200:19:50So we do see larger teams joining in terms of production and we have a solid pipeline. Speaker 500:19:58That's helpful. And then maybe just one last one for me, a financial one for Michelle. Maybe if my math is correct, I think you grew sales of roughly $73,000,000 year on year and that yields like a 6.4% EBITDA yield on that Revenue growth. I guess my question is, is that the type of leverage we can expect From the company going forward, I. E. Speaker 500:20:24That 6% yield is a good bogey to kind of use and model Or are there areas of reinvestment that may lower that number going forward? Thanks. Speaker 300:20:36Hey, Darren. Great to hear from you. Yes, I mean, we've been laying the groundwork for adjusted beta profitability for a while. I think that, that is A good indicator of where we can expect it to be for the remaining quarters, but there is also a seasonality component to it. So you should take that into account. Speaker 300:20:55If you think about OpEx going forward, I think last It's down a little bit compared to last year. So it was 11.6 12% in the same quarter last year. So we're talking a little bit ahead of last year, but you can adjust your it's a good model for OpEx as a percentage of revenue. Speaker 200:21:21Great. Thank you. Operator00:21:24Thank you. Your next question is coming from Stephen Sheldon from William Blair. Your line is Speaker 700:21:31live. Hey, thanks for taking my questions. First one here, great to hear about the pipeline with larger teams. Also seem like the data implies that your average home price in 2Q transaction volume was up quite a bit sequentially. So curious, are you seeing a move up in the price range of homes that your agents are transacting in? Speaker 700:21:51And if so, is that something that's Just naturally happening or is there also any support from adding more agents focused on higher end homes, luxury homes to your platform? Just any detail there. Speaker 200:22:04Thanks, Stephen. Actually, if we compare the average home price sold on our From last quarter compared to the Q2 of 2022, we see a 0.8% decline. So that's kind of Quite in line with the market conditions. We are seeing prices going up nationally. So I expect that the Median or average price point will increase accordingly. Speaker 200:22:31At the same time, we are seeing more of, let's say, Luxury agents joining us. We had a big announcement of a person an agent called Kofi that joined us last week, huge splash. He's focused on the luxury market, and we think that, that will attract more agents that are just focusing on higher price points. So I wouldn't expect the big jump, but probably kind of a steady increase in the price point that we're handling Speaker 700:23:04Got it. That's helpful. And then it sounds like we'll get the full release, the consumer facing solution here in the fall, Great. Just curious what the initial feedback you've gotten from those consumers. I think you've been running some beta programs there in recent months. Speaker 700:23:18So curious And what feedback you've received from consumers that have been participating in that, and kind of how you say as you kind of roll this out, What do you think it will allow your company to do? Speaker 200:23:33I have to say that we are extremely excited about the consumer facing app that we're building and we have to Remember that this is something that nobody has tried before. So there are a lot of unknowns and a lot of things that we just have to try by ourselves and we don't have any data points to rely on. This is why it's so complicated and it's taking a little bit of time. But yes, we have been experimenting with some components. We do not have a ready app. Speaker 200:23:55So The app was not used by the consumers. However, some of the components were used by the consumers. For example, our FAST 14 mortgage offering, which allows agents A guaranteed closing within 14 days from their loan application, and we have done a few of those, and the feedback was Just amazing. I mean, both our agents and their clients were just amazed by the fact that we were able to close on one occasion in 10 days. So Being able to provide a clear to close within 10 days of loan application is something that doesn't happen every day, And we want to make it standard. Speaker 200:24:33Long term, I think that we are starting to see a future where the home buying journey is just Seamless and convenient and quick and just eliminate all of the friction and the pain that exists at the moment. So I think that as the time goes by, We are getting more and more energized and excited about the consumer facing offering that we're building. Speaker 700:24:56Great. Thank you. Operator00:24:59Thank you. Your next question is coming from David Marsh from Singular Research. Your line is live. Speaker 600:25:06Hey, good morning, guys. Congratulations on the quarter and achieving EBITDA positive. It's an impressive accomplishment. Let me start with the title business. Could you provide us an update with regards to the title business And how many states are rolled out in and how many transactions have actually run through it in the most recent quarter? Speaker 200:25:34Sure. So, retail is now operating in 11 states. We added a few states during the past couple of months. What we are now focusing on is the JV offering to our highest performing teams and agents. So about 95% of the revenue last quarter came from The JVs and revenue grew by 87% year over year. Speaker 200:25:56So we are very happy with the growth. We think that there's Tremendous upside still that we can realize over there. Revenue was close to $1,000,000 on RealTitle side, And we're just working very closely with our highest performing teams just to have them sign up for the JVs and start funding the transactions over. We see the attach ratio on the JV at about 70%, which is super high. And it's just about scaling that business right now. Speaker 200:26:23We have to remember that, that business is It's in its infancy, so it takes a little bit of time to ramp it up. Looking a little bit ahead into the future, we do see a world in which Tylo is just a component, a seamless component in the home buying journey. So it will just be integrated in our Automated systems and it'll just be a check the box thing for consumers. So the longer term strategy is just to embed it into the consumer Speaker 600:26:56Got it. Got it. And then same question with regards to the mortgage business. Speaker 400:27:03Sure. Speaker 200:27:03So we acquired the mortgage business about 7 months ago. It took us a little bit of time to Get them immersed in IntuREAL. Revenue in the second quarter was a little bit over $350,000 That was more than 100% increase Compared to the Q1 of 2023, so we're really happy with the results. We're now exploring also a JV opportunity, just allowing our agents to become partners in the mortgage company as well. But as I said, the more exciting side of the mortgage businesses, everything that we're building on the technology side and just trying the fast protein offering and embedding that into the consumer facing app. Speaker 200:27:46So we do see that business scaling at the second half of the year, so revenue will continue to go up. But Alongside that, we are building that into the consumer facing app as well. Speaker 600:27:58And how many states are you offering the mortgage platform in at the moment? Speaker 200:28:04I believe it's right now at 12 states. 12 states. Okay, great. All right. Well, that's Speaker 600:28:12primarily What I have at the top of mind, I guess, just lastly, I mean, can you just talk about overall state of Of the real estate business and in terms of direction, not just transactions, but I mean, are you starting to see any more listings on a relative basis or is supply still pretty tight? And just talk about What your expectations would be for recovery there and how that would play out in terms of hand in hand with what the Fed is doing and so on? Speaker 200:28:48Yes. Good question. So the market is extremely tight on both ends, both on supply side and demand side. In the beginning of June, the middle of June, what we have seen is just a drop in demand due to the rising rates. So mortgage rates were at around 7%, a little bit over that. Speaker 200:29:06So for about 2 to 3 weeks, we have seen a decline in new home sales In the market, which was kind of interesting, we are now seeing that rebounding. What we have seen on our platform in the past 3 weeks, I would say, is a Spike in new listings coming into the market. So that was an interesting trend that we still don't have market data like overall national market data about. We can only speak about what's happening on our platform with our agents, and we have seen a spike in new listings coming into the market. I don't know if that's indicative of the future, But I think that as soon as we understand what the Fed is going to do with the rates and the market gets a little bit clarity, I think that We will see mortgage rates stabilizing and maybe even decreasing a little bit towards the end of the year, and that will be a positive. Speaker 200:29:54But At the moment, we're seeing just solid demand, not enough supply. I think that 37% Homes are now selling over asking price, which is interesting, and we are also seeing Price is starting to go up nationally, so interesting market dynamics. Speaker 600:30:17Yes, that's really great color. I appreciate that Sameer. Again, congrats on the quarter, guys. Speaker 200:30:23Thank you, Dave. Operator00:30:26Thank you. Your next question is coming from Tom White from D. A. Davidson. Your line is live. Speaker 400:30:37Great. Thanks guys for taking my questions. 2 if I could. 1, we're seeing some signs that the momentum that you guys have been enjoying is triggering a bit of a kind of competitive response at some of the other kind of brokerages with similar models to yours in terms of them having to kind of sweeten the value prop For their agents, Tamir, I'd be curious to hear about how you think about kind of needing to stay ahead of some of those maybe larger competitors When it comes to kind of the overall appeal or the overall value prop or financial package for your agents, how do you think about needing to kind of stay ahead or Maybe your willingness to do so or ability to without kind of impacting maybe the margin ramp of the business? And then I just have a follow-up. Speaker 400:31:24Sure. Speaker 500:31:26So we are very happy Speaker 200:31:28to see other brokerages following our path and doing some of the things that we are doing. I think that, that benefit With the agents and at the end of the day, everything we do is for our agents. And if other agents in other brokerages can benefit from that, That's great. We don't see any need to change anything right now. We don't really feel that pressure that you're talking about. Speaker 200:31:48We think that we have An amazing offering for agents and a lot of agents are buying into that. I understand why others want to make some changes to be able to offer something that is close to what offering, I think that we have a huge competitive advantage when it comes to technology and it will probably take others a few years to catch up to that. So Not really concerned on that front. But overall, I think that, yes, other brokerages are hurting and They're feeling the pain and maybe they need to do things to kind of alter their value proposition. I don't feel that this is the case with Rio. Speaker 400:32:23Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you. And then just second, congrats on the EBITDA profitability. And There was nice kind of gross margin expansion year over year in the quarter. Speaker 400:32:36I imagine that the fee model changes were a driver of that, maybe Fewer agents or a lower proportion of agents capping. Can you help us think about the potential for gross margin expansion Kind of next year or after like once you lap the fee model changes, just kind of curious whether You think maybe by this time next year, things like ancillary services, mortgage and title or maybe even things like instant payments might be Rant to a degree where we can kind of continue this upward march on gross margins? Thanks. Speaker 200:33:16Sure. I can start and maybe Michel would want to add to that. I think that we have a few initiatives In the pipeline on further monetization of the platform, I think that if you look at a brokerage, The vast majority of the revenue is kind of pass through. So the agent portion of revenue is not monetized at any other brokerage, and this is something that we're looking at And just exploring opportunities to monetize that because just think about it real and I'm just throwing out a number closing, Let's say $500,000,000 $600,000,000 this year, about 90% of that revenue is pass through. And we think that there are ways to monetize that Huge portion of the revenue and we will be coming up with some initiatives towards the end of the year. Speaker 200:33:59So I think that moving forward, if we take that into account and we also take our Title business and mortgage businesses into account. I think that there's a lot of upside in margins. I don't want to state the number and we're not really providing any guidance at the moment, but I think that Positive trend will continue, and we will probably see a more meaningful Increasing gross margins sometime next year. Speaker 400:34:26Great. That's very interesting. Thanks, Sameer. Thanks, Vishal. Thanks. Operator00:34:32Thank you very much. Mr. Li, there appears to be no further questions. Speaker 100:34:38If you have any additional questions on today's earnings release, please feel free to contact me directly. Operator, would you please give the conference call replay instructions once again? Thanks. Operator00:34:49Absolutely. In order to access the replay, you need to call 877-481-40110 with a confirmation code of 48,756. Once again, the replay phone number is 8 77,481,401,010 and the confirmation code 48,756. The replay will be available at 1 pm Eastern today. Ladies and gentlemen, you may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Operator00:35:22Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by