Pandemic ready: eXp Realty sold $11B in Q1

Virtual brokerage also reported $200K in net income, marking 2nd consecutive profitable quarter

eXp Realty CEO Glenn Sanford
eXp Realty CEO Glenn Sanford

Virtual brokerage eXp Realty reported $200,000 in first-quarter profit, marking its second consecutive profitable quarter.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company’s Q1 performance compared to its net loss of $6.3 million over the same period in 2019, parent company eXp World Holdings said Tuesday. It had generated $800,000 in net income during the fourth quarter for the first time since it went public last May.

It also saw revenue soar 73 percent to $271 million.

One of the fastest-growing brokerage firms in the past two years, eXp said it had 28,449 agents at the end of the first quarter, up 59 percent year-over-year. Transaction volume grew 90 percent to $11 billion.

While the results don’t reflect the impact of Covid-19, eXp said it was poised to act when residential sales resume in large part because it operates entirely in the cloud.

“As we move deeper into 2020, it will no doubt be a volatile year for many industries,” CEO Glenn Sanford said in a statement. “The backdrop of the global health crisis will change how people will work together and even how they socialize. It has the potential of changing how consumers approach the home-buying and -selling process.”

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The brokerage hasn’t avoided pandemic-related cuts. In April, eXp cut 15 percent of its staff in what it said was a proactive effort to cut costs. It also eliminated all business travel, reduced its use of contractors, and paused hiring. Executives including Sanford took 50 percent pay cuts.

The company projected revenue growth and transactions would slow during the next quarter as a result of the coronavirus. But the firm is “uniquely positioned to adapt,” CFO Jeff Whiteside said in a statement.

In 2018, eXp acquired VirBELA, the software that powers the virtual world that its agents operate in. The company now licenses VirBELA to clients across several industries. EXp operates completely in the cloud via eXp World, where agents (and executives) appear as avatars.

Whiteside said there’s been a “dramatic increase” in VirBELA use. “We anticipate accelerated growth opportunities as companies embrace the new normal for how business is conducted as the need and desire for physical distancing takes center stage,” he said.

Read more