Real Estate Social Media Statistics for 2026, With Sources
The numbers every realtor should know about social media in 2026, each with its source, sample and date, and what to do with them.
By the Next5 team · · 8 min read
Most "social media statistics" pages list numbers with no source. This one does not. Every figure below names who asked, how many people they asked, and when. Use the numbers to decide where to spend your next hour, not to decorate a slide.
The short version
- 75% of REALTORS® use social media in their business. Only e-signatures rank higher (79%).
- 39% of agents say social media gave them the highest number of quality leads, ahead of CRM (23%) and the local MLS (17%).
- 5% of buyers and 6% of sellers say they first found their agent on a social app.
- Facebook (76%) and Instagram (57%) are the apps agents use most. TikTok is at 16%, so it is the least crowded.
How many real estate agents use social media?
In July 2025, NAR invited 49,233 active REALTORS® to a technology survey and got 1,241 usable answers (margin of error 2.78%). Social media tied for second among all technologies at 75%, level with drone photo and video and behind e-signatures at 79%. An empty profile is now the exception to beat, not the norm.
NAR's 2026 Membership Profile, which surveyed more than 5,000 REALTORS®, shows where agents spend that effort. The share who use each app professionally:
| App | Agents who use it professionally |
|---|---|
| 76% | |
| 57% | |
| 55% | |
| YouTube | 31% |
| TikTok | 16% |
Read the last row twice. Only 16% of agents use TikTok, so a local agent who posts there competes with very few other local agents. Our own 30 real estate post ideas work on both TikTok and Instagram.
Which apps do Americans use?
Pew Research Center surveyed 5,022 US adults between February and June 2025. The share who ever use each app:
| App | US adults who use it | Change |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 84% | Stable |
| 71% | Stable | |
| 50% | Up from 40% in 2021 | |
| TikTok | 37% | Up from 21% in 2021 |
In a separate Pew survey of 5,123 adults (February and March 2025), 24% said they use TikTok every day. Age matters for who sees you. 80% of adults 18 to 29 use Instagram, against 19% of adults 65 and older. Women use Instagram more than men (55% against 44%).
Do real estate agents get leads from social media?
Agents say yes. In the NAR survey, 39% named social media as the technology that gave them the highest number of quality leads. CRM came second at 23%, and the local MLS third at 17%.
Clients tell a different story. Zillow surveyed about 10,200 successful buyers (April to September 2025) and more than 7,400 sellers (April to August 2025) and asked how they first found their agent:
| How they first found their agent | Buyers | Sellers |
|---|---|---|
| Real estate website or app | 22% | 20% |
| Social networking site or app | 5% | 6% |
| Any online channel (net) | 33% | 35% |
Online channels as a whole grew fast. For sellers, the online share rose from 15% in 2018 to 35% in 2025. For buyers it went from 23% to 33%. Social is a small slice of that.
How to read the gap
These two numbers do not contradict each other. A person may hear your name from a friend, then open your Instagram to check you out before they call. They would answer Zillow's question with "referral", but social helped close the deal. Treat social as proof, not as a billboard. A weekly stream of useful, local posts is what a stranger finds when they search your name.
What do buyers and sellers want to see?
Zillow found that 94% of buyers used at least one online resource to shop for a home. Video and tours are the gap. Only 30% of buyers said their agent gave them a video tour, while 38% said they would ideally get one.
Sellers care about this too. 66% of sellers said a virtual tour in their listing is very or extremely important. 75% said they are more likely to hire an agent who includes virtual tours or interactive floor plans, and 78% are more likely to hire one who includes high-resolution photography.
Agents agree. In NAR's 2025 staging survey of 1,266 REALTORS®, 73% of buyers' agents said photos are highly important to their clients, and 48% said the same of video. 88% of sellers' agents said photos matter more or much more to their clients, and 47% said so of video.
A quick way to act on this: turn each listing's best photos into a slideshow, and post one short video tour. See how to announce a coming soon listing for a post you can copy.
Can you trust social media for housing advice?
Realtor.com surveyed 1,000 US adults on 7 and 8 August 2025, all interested in buying or selling a primary home or who had done so in the last two years. Nearly 90% relied on social media for housing information, led by YouTube (73%) and Facebook (57%). 76% of Gen Z said TikTok is a go-to for housing content.
They did not fully trust it. 52.6% called social media a positive use of their time for housing information, against 65.6% for real estate agents. 30.5% said social media gave them an inaccurate picture of the market. That is your opening: a local agent who posts real numbers for their own town is the correction people are looking for.
How are agents using AI for social media?
NAR's 2026 Technology Report, released on 22 September 2026, found that 41% of agents use AI-generated content tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini. 23% use AI daily and 25% weekly. Among agents who use AI, 56% use it for social media posting. Writing listing descriptions came first at 75%.
AI is now common, so a generic AI caption will look like everyone else's. Add one local detail the tool could not know: the street, the school, the coffee shop. If you want to compare tools, read ChatGPT for social media.
What should a realtor do with these numbers?
Pick two apps
Instagram for trust, plus TikTok or Facebook for reach. Only 16% of agents are on TikTok, so it is the easiest place to stand out.
Post proof, not ads
Local tips, sold stories and listing tours. Buyers and sellers use social to check you out, so give them something to find.
Add video to every listing
Most buyers never get a video tour from their agent. One short tour sets you apart.
Post on a schedule
Pick the days and keep them. Our best time to post on TikTok guide can help you choose.
Track one number
Count the new clients who say they saw you online. Ask every new lead how they found you.
Sources
- NAR 2025 REALTORS® Technology Survey, September 2025
- NAR 2026 Membership Profile summary
- NAR 2026 Technology Report news release, 22 September 2026
- NAR 2025 Profile of Home Staging, May 2025
- Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report for Agents 2025, October 2025
- Pew Research Center, Americans' Social Media Use 2025, November 2025
- Realtor.com survey release, October 2025
Each figure was read on its source page on 2 November 2026. Surveys describe the people who answered, not every agent or buyer in the US.
Questions
What percentage of real estate agents use social media?
75% of REALTORS® said they use social media in their business, in NAR's July 2025 survey of 1,241 members. Only e-signatures ranked higher, at 79%.
Which social media platform do most real estate agents use?
Facebook. 76% of REALTORS® use it professionally, ahead of Instagram (57%), LinkedIn (55%), YouTube (31%) and TikTok (16%), per NAR's 2026 Membership Profile of more than 5,000 members.
Does social media bring real estate leads?
Agents say it does: 39% named social media as the technology that gave them the most quality leads (NAR, July 2025). Buyers rarely credit it as the first contact, though. Only 5% of buyers and 6% of sellers first found their agent on social (Zillow, 2025).
Is TikTok worth it for realtors?
It can be, because few agents are there. Only 16% of REALTORS® use TikTok professionally, while 37% of US adults use the app (Pew, 2025). That leaves room for a local agent to stand out.
How many buyers use social media to look for a home?
Nearly 90% of current or recent buyers and sellers relied on social media for housing information, with YouTube at 73% and Facebook at 57% (Realtor.com, August 2025, 1,000 adults).
Do buyers and sellers want video from their agent?
Yes. 66% of sellers rate a virtual tour in their listing very or extremely important, and 38% of buyers would ideally get a video tour from their agent, though only 30% did (Zillow, 2025).
How many real estate agents use AI?
In NAR's 2026 Technology Report, 41% of agents use AI-generated content tools. Of agents who use AI, 56% use it for social media posts.
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