Home buyers and sellers are taking greater care when choosing a real estate agent to represent them, according to Zillow's 2025 Consumer Housing Trends Report for Agents, published Dec. 30. In particular, they're using online resources to weed out those with few reviews or an outdated digital profile.
"The number of buyers relying on digital research emphasizes how important it is for agents to maintain a strong online presence," said the report. "Even though a majority of buyers only contacted one or two agents before deciding who to hire, this data suggests many are conducting research online prior to reaching out."
The Changing Faces of Buyers and Sellers
There are fewer first-time buyers than there were just a handful of years ago. Instead, most clients today have already purchased and owned a home. This extra experience may have made them more wary of lazy or incompetent agents and more determined to avoid them.
The shortage of first-time buyers has also affected the roles that agents play. There's less of the hand-holding necessary to ease first-timers onto the homeownership ladder. Instead, there's more emphasis on performing core competencies exceptionally well.
"Repeat buyers now make up the majority of today's market, and they're coming back with a very different mindset than they had even a few years ago," says Amanda Pendleton, Zillow's home trends expert. "These 'comeback buyers' have lived through multiple market cycles; they've adjusted to today's rates; and they're intentional about who they hire, rewarding agents who show up with a clear strategy, strong process management and a truly modern, digital-first experience."
What Today's Clients Are Looking For
To maximize their potential revenues, agents must keep up with the changing needs of their clients. Buyers and sellers expect more than the traditional skills that agents provide. In particular, they require:
- High-resolution photography, valued by 78% of sellers.
- Virtual tours and interactive floor plans, valued by 75% of sellers.
- Communications by text or other messaging apps — 53% of buyers preferred texts, compared with 33% who preferred voice calls.
- Especially in the Northeast and among millennials, buyers like agents with strong social media presences.
Zillow didn't mention virtual staging, which is when agents use AI to transform how a home actually looks to how it could look. That's highly controversial, and the jury is still out.
How Buyers View Agent Commissions
In March 2024, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reached a court settlement that was supposed to slash the cost of selling a home. But things haven't necessarily turned out that way.
Unsurprisingly, buyers are remarkably relaxed about the commissions that sellers often still pay. A whopping 70% told Zillow they thought commission rates were fair, while 21% described them as too high. However, 7% believed agents should be charging more!
Opportunities Remain for Adaptable Agents Despite a Challenging Market
Real estate agents have not had an easy time over the last couple of years. Not as many new housing units are being built, home prices have plateaued, and too few first-time buyers are entering the market. Meanwhile, mortgage rates have stubbornly remained north of the 6% mark, leaving millions of potential sellers feeling locked into their homes by the ultra-low, pandemic-era rates they're currently paying.
However, agents who are willing to respond to the changing needs and wants of home buyers and sellers still have an opportunity to thrive.
