Corcoran shopping its biggest franchise

Corcoran Global Living is on the market.

The Corcoran Group is shopping its inaugural — and biggest — franchise less than three years after its formation, according to an internal senior executive. The executive said Corcoran will execute a direct deal if it can’t find an outside buyer.

News of the offering comes after more than two years of aggressive growth by Corcoran Global Living, which formed in February 2020 when Zephyr Real Estate, a San Francisco firm, combined with Nevada-based Oliver Luxury Real Estate.

It began expanding almost immediately, purchasing a Northern California firm in August 2020, a Los Angeles firm in November of that year, a Beverly Hills brokerage in May 2021 and a Bay Area firm earlier this year. The acquisitons grew Corcoran Global’s headcount to more than 1,000 brokers, compared to 450 at the time of its inception.

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Rumors had been circulating in recent weeks that the firm was going out of business. In response to an inquiry on the matter, a Corcoran Global Living executive said the brokerage is reconsidering the extent of its office footprint.

The affiliate had 80 offices in April, up from its initial 13. Corcoran Group had a total of 122 franchise offices at the end of 2021, according to SEC filings, divided among 23 franchises.

“Like many brokers with the shifting real estate market, we are in the process of evaluating our office space footprint in Southern California,” said chief operations officer Matt Borland. “We are not closing our doors.”

The brokerage did not respond to a request for comment regarding its impending sale.

Corcoran’s parent company Anywhere, then known as Realogy, decided to franchise the Corcoran brand in 2018 amid diminishing margins and slow growth for legacy firms.

The cost of opening a Corcoran franchise at the time was between $153,000 and $518,000, according to documents filed with the Federal Trade Commission. Franchisees paid Corcoran 6 percent royalties initially, and were required to contribute between 1 percent and 0.5 percent of gross revenue to marketing.