AI use widespread in real estate, but most professionals say it falls short

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become nearly ubiquitous across the real estate industry, yet most professionals say the technology has not meaningfully improved their work, according to a July briefing from Fyxer.

The report found that 90% of surveyed real estate professionals use AI in some capacity, reflecting an industry that has embraced the technology rapidly.

Despite widespread adoption, only 35% of respondents said AI is genuinely helpful, creating a 55-percentage-point gap between usage and perceived value — the largest among industries analyzed in Fyxer’s broader AI Productivity Trap Report.

Researchers surveyed 89 real estate professionals and compared their responses with a broader sample of 2,000 U.S. office workers.

Generic tools dominate agent workflows

The report suggests many real estate professionals rely on general-purpose AI instead of software built specifically for the industry.

Adoption of sector-specific AI tools for MLS and property research, market analysis and client matching ranges from just 21% to 25%. Instead, most respondents reported using generic chatbots and research assistants.

Researchers said generic AI can draft emails and generate content but lacks the built-in understanding of property data, client history and transaction workflows that specialized platforms provide.

Real estate professionals also trail U.S. office workers in regular use of nearly every AI tool category except chat tools.

Administrative work remains a major burden

The industry’s heavy administrative workload makes it particularly well suited for AI.

Time spent managing client communications is 32 percentage points higher than the cross-sector average, while email ranks as the second-largest administrative time drain after client communication.

However, adoption of AI for email remains relatively limited. Only 39% of respondents use AI to write or reply to emails and just 23% use it to read incoming messages.

Researchers identified email automation as one of the largest untapped opportunities for improving productivity.

The report also cited Morgan Stanley’s estimate that AI could generate $34 billion in efficiency gains across the real estate sector by 2030.

Integration could unlock greater productivity

Fyxer found that one in five real estate professionals operates AI tools separately from primary workflows instead of using integrated systems.

Overall, 64% reported using integrated AI tools, compared with 73% among the broader sample of U.S. office workers. Standalone AI use also was higher in real estate, at 36% versus 27%.

Researchers said integrated platforms that connect with MLS data, market information and communication workflows can reduce the need to edit or fact-check AI-generated work.

Nearly half of respondents, 47%, identified reviewing AI outputs for accuracy as their biggest AI-related time drain, 5.2 percentage points higher than the broader survey sample.

The report found office workers using fully integrated AI tools were 63 percentage points more productive than those relying on standalone applications.

Researchers also identified signs that so-called “AI superworkers” are emerging in real estate.

Although the findings are directional because of the limited sample size, 21% of respondents said AI has transformed their work, suggesting broader productivity gains may depend less on AI adoption itself than on selecting integrated, industry-specific tools embedded throughout daily workflows for agents.

This article was written by Jonathan Delozier and generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation. It was reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.