Who's the most powerful person in real estate right now?

Clue: they head up one of North America's largest real estate firms

Who's the most powerful person in real estate right now?

An annual listing of the most powerful people in real estate has been published.

The Swanepoel Power 200 for 2020 puts Zillow co-founder and CEO Rich Barton at the top of the pile followed by Keller Williams Realty CEO Gary Keller, HomeServices of America CEO Ron Peltier, Realogy CEO Ryan Schneider, and Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman.

The most powerful female leaders on the 2020 list include Hanna Holdings CEO Helen Hanna Casey, Windermere Real Estate managing principal Jill Wood; and Sherry Chris, the new CEO of Realogy Expansion Brands.

Learn how strong female leaders excel in the mortgage industry in this article.

The most powerful and influential executives in the Realtor association world, in order, are: NAR CEO Bob Goldberg, Houston Association of Realtors CEO Bob Hale and California Regional MLS CEO Art Carter.

The list is published by real estate brokerage consultancy T3 Sixty and its executives spend hundreds of hours determining who should be included and where.

“We publish the SP200 each year to help industry participants gain a better understanding of the scope and extent of the many significant companies and leaders that shape their industry,” said T3 Sixty Chairman and CEO Stefan Swanepoel. “It is fascinating to track how different leaders and roles shift every year. The insights of developments on the highest levels of the industry at any given time provide invaluable strategic insight of who you should be working with, learning from and who to watch out for.”

Strong showing for Realogy
Along with one of the top 4 most powerful in the list, Realogy is celebrating multiple people in the list that are connected with the firm.

Realogy accounts for 29 executives, affiliated agents and brokers, and the company also continues to claim more of the Most Powerful Women Executives than any other company, making up nearly 20% of the category.

"Congratulations to all of the talented industry leaders and influencers named to this year's Swanepoel Power 200, many of whom I'm privileged to call colleagues and affiliated partners," said Ryan Schneider, Realogy's chief executive officer and president, who appears in the top five of the SP200 for the third consecutive year. "Realogy's consistently strong showing in the SP200 not only demonstrates our ability to attract great talent but also recognizes our incredible momentum in delivering industry-leading products and services to better support our affiliated agents and franchisees and drive additional growth."