AI worries rise among real estate leaders

According to a new analysis from the Delta Media Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey, the average artificial intelligence (AI) “worry score” among brokerage leaders was 6.38 out of 10 in 2026, compared with 6.50 in 2024. Concern declined to 5.80 in 2025 before rebounding this year. The share of leaders assigning AI risk a high worry score of 8, 9 or 10 followed a similar pattern, falling from 42.4% in 2024 to 33.7% in 2025 before rising to 37.9% in 2026. “One reason AI worry may be rebounding is that the decisions are getting bigger,” said Michael Minard, CEO and owner of Delta Media Group. “Brokerages are moving beyond simple AI tools toward agentic AI, automation and systems that can take action.” The 2026 survey was the first in the three-year series to ask brokerage leaders about agentic AI tools capable of automating tasks. While the survey does not establish that agentic AI caused the increase in concern, its emergence adds new questions around compliance, data security, liability and accountability when AI systems take action. The findings also show that AI concerns vary depending on the leader and the size of the brokerage. Among female brokerage leaders, 71.4% identifie...