The results of the 2026 DNA of CRE surveys are in. And if there’s one word that stands out this year, it’s this: Optimism.
After surveying brokers and marketers across the country, the strongest throughline wasn’t AI adoption. It wasn’t tech usage. It wasn’t even workflow challenges. [get your copy!]
It was confidence.
According to the 2026 DNA of CRE Broker Report, 75% of brokers express a positive outlook for 2026. On the marketing side, that number is even higher: 87% of marketers report a positive outlook, with over half describing themselves as “very positive”.
That’s not cautious optimism. That’s conviction. So the question isn’t whether 2026 will be active. The question is what that activity will mean for the firms competing in it.
When confidence increases, so does competition. That means we can expect to see more listings to hit the market, more brokers chasing opportunities, more marketing campaigns going live, and more firms investing in technology.
In fact, the survey confirms that investment is already accelerating. Sixty-eight percent of marketers expect marketing technology spending to increase in 2026.
Optimism doesn’t just mean more deals. It means more noise. And in louder markets, differentiation becomes harder.
There’s a long-standing belief in commercial real estate that strong markets reward hustle above all else. When activity rises, the assumption is simple: work harder, move faster, take more meetings, chase more deals — and the results will follow.
But the 2026 DNA of CRE data suggests something more complicated.
Even as confidence climbs across the industry, operational gaps remain firmly in place. More than half of brokers (53% to be exact) still don’t use a dedicated deal management system. Nearly half of listing distribution (45%) is still handled through manual administrative entry.
That means many firms are heading into what they believe will be a stronger year with workflows that still depend on manual processes, spreadsheets, re-entries, exports, and disconnected systems. In slower markets, inefficiency can stay hidden. Lower deal volume masks friction. A few extra manual steps don’t feel catastrophic when pipelines are lighter.
But in rising markets, inefficiency doesn’t hide. It compounds.
When volume increases, manual processes don’t scale — they strain. Every additional listing means more duplicate data entry. Every new deal means more reporting reconciliation. Every added campaign increases the risk of version control errors and missed follow-ups.
Hustle can help you survive. But hustle alone can’t help you scale. And scaling is what optimism demands.
With tech investment climbing, brokerages face a critical choice:
Add more tools or build a connected system?
Optimistic markets often trigger reactive buying. A new marketing tool here. An AI solution there. A reporting dashboard somewhere else. But fragmentation doesn’t create advantage.
Architecture does.
The brokerages that will outperform in 2026 won’t necessarily be the ones with the largest tech stack. They’ll be the ones where:
The 2026 DNA of CRE results are encouraging. Confidence is high. Activity is expected to rise. Investment is flowing back into technology. That’s good news for the industry.
But optimism alone doesn’t create advantage. Preparation does.
As 2026 unfolds, the most successful firms won’t just be optimistic about growth. They’ll be operationally prepared for it. Because in rising markets, the firms that win aren’t the busiest.
They’re the most systemized.
Don’t miss out on the annual DNA of CRE report. It’s a joint effort across the industry powered between TheBrokerLit and Buildout year after year. The reports contain exclusive inputs from the broker side as well as the marketer side. Get your copy!
