Central Ohio’s biggest residential brokerages did not have a sleepy 2025. The region’s largest firms reported closing nearly 24,000 homes and generating about $9.28 billion in residential sales for the year, a haul that shows just how much of the market is flowing through a relatively small club of players.
The locally researched “Residential Real Estate Agencies” list, compiled by Grace McCormick, ranked 22 companies by their 2025 Central Ohio sales volume and found that the top 22 brokerages together closed nearly 24,000 homes for a combined $9.28 billion in sales, according to Columbus Business First. The outlet reports that firms supplied their own figures through questionnaires and that amounts above $1 million were rounded for publication.
That $9.28 billion sits inside a larger regional picture that Columbus REALTORS says hit a record-high $11.1 billion in total residential volume in 2025, with 29,626 closed sales for the year. In its year-in-review, the association described 2025 as a period of rising inventory, modest price gains, and a market gradually moving back toward more typical conditions.
Put together, the brokerages named on the Business First list accounted for roughly 84% of Central Ohio’s 2025 residential sales volume, a rough share derived from totals reported by Columbus Business First and the regional trade group’s year-end data. That level of concentration suggests that high-volume teams and national franchises continue to dominate, where most local deals actually get done.
What This Means For Buyers And Sellers
When so much volume sits with a relatively short list of brokerages, it shapes where listings show up, who sees them first, and how quickly they move. Local reporting this spring showed active listings and days on market ticking up, easing some of the bidding pressure that defined the pandemic-era frenzy and giving buyers a bit more negotiating room, according to coverage of regional housing trends. WOSU documented the inventory build and softer sales activity through April.
Why The Top Firms Keep Winning
Industry analysts point to team-based brokerage models, increasingly sophisticated technology stacks, and the scale of national franchises as the engines that allow a handful of firms to handle so many of the region’s listings and leads. National coverage of brokerage trends in 2025 found real estate teams expanding their market share by leaning on aggressive lead generation, shared back-office systems, and stronger branding, which translate into higher deal counts. Inman has chronicled that team-driven consolidation across multiple markets.
“Central Ohio’s housing market is moving in a healthier direction,” Columbus REALTORS president Gloria Alonso Cannon said in the association’s year-in-review. The group’s 2025 annual report also noted that mortgage rates eased through the second half of 2025 and were expected to remain near the 6% range heading into 2026, framing a cautious but steady outlook for the year ahead. The report is available from Columbus REALTORS.
What To Watch Next
The big question now is whether growing inventory opens the door for a wider spread of brokerages to capture more of the deals, or whether the region’s heavy-hitters simply pivot toward higher-value listings while keeping their grip on most of the volume. Early 2026 data will show whether that concentration starts to loosen or whether Central Ohio buyers and sellers keep flocking to the same handful of firms to close their transactions.
