Every new year offers a chance for a reset. The calendar turns, priorities get reassessed and institutions decide what the next chapter is supposed to look like.
It also might include a new cast of characters.
As 2026 hits its stride, Jerome Powell is preparing to hand off the Federal Reserve to a new chair, and New York City has a new mayor with a dramatically different view of housing and regulation than his predecessor. Real estate is going through its own version of a transition.
On the residential side, Anywhere Real Estate CEO Ryan Schneider exited quietly following the company’s merger with Compass, ending an eight-year run in which he steered the Realogy-era giant toward a more tech-forward, streamlined model. His departure, alongside Anywhere’s CTO, is a broader reality check of the deal. Compass is now firmly in the driver’s seat, overseeing roughly 340,000 agents and exerting enormous influence over how listings, data and agents move across the country.
That context makes the exit of Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman feel less isolated. Kelman stepped down after two decades at the helm, months after Rocket Companies completed its nearly $2 billion acquisition of the firm. He framed the move as a natural inflection point, with Redfin shifting from a patient, carefully sequenced strategy to one focused on scale alongside a lender and portal giant. Kelman’s tenure defined an era of experimentation in residential brokerage, from discounted commissions to salaried agents, and he became one of the industry’s loudest defenders of MLS transparency in the fight over private listings.
Those debates are still playing out, especially as Compass CEO Robert Reffkin emerges as one of the industry’s most powerful figures. Even established leaders are repositioning themselves around that new reality. Stephen Kotler, the former head of Douglas Elliman’s Western region, recently joined Corcoran as an agent, reuniting with the Kotler Team in New York. Kotler joins a number of veteran Elliman execs and agents to make the jump to Corcoran over the past year.
Pressure is also mounting on the portal side of the residential business. At CoStar, activist investors are openly pushing for board and leadership changes as the company’s costly bet on Homes.com drags on its stock.
On the commercial front, they skew more institutional, and sometimes stranger. JLL offered one of the more unusual developments when Michael Colacino resigned as CEO of its Americas Leasing Advisory group just three weeks into the job. The abrupt exit, with little explanation, marked the second high-profile departure at the firm in recent months after Scott Panzer was fired for comparing Zohran Mamdani to Adolf Hitler.
Brookfield Asset Management’s transition was anything but sudden. The firm formalized a long-anticipated succession plan by naming Connor Teskey as CEO, with Bruce Flatt remaining chair and continuing to lead the parent company. For investors, the move signaled continuity at a global asset manager sitting on more than $130 billion in dry powder and aggressively deploying capital across real estate, infrastructure and credit.
Starwood Capital made its own bet on experience, bringing in Centerbridge executive John Gonnella to oversee U.S. asset management. With Starwood’s vast mix of debt, equity and operating platforms, the hire points to a renewed focus on operational performance and asset-level value creation rather than just chasing the next big acquisition.
While some of the faces at the top may change, the story will continue to be about consolidation and succession.
There was plenty of other news this week. Week two of the Alexander brothers’ trial shifted from testimony to evidence, Fannie Mae said multifamily mortgage fraud is declining and we take a look inside Steve Ross’ buyout of a West Palm Beach condo.
“Tequila and Xanax”: Alexanders’ trial turns to brothers’ drug scores in alleged conspiracy
Week two of the Alexander brothers’ federal sex trafficking trial closed with prosecutors shifting from victim testimony to the mechanics of what they say made the alleged scheme possible. After several days of women describing sudden blackouts, loss of motor control and assaults following nights with Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander, jurors were shown a cache of messages prosecutors say document how the brothers coordinated to obtain drugs used to incapacitate women.
Inside Steve Ross’ buyout of a West Palm Beach waterfront condo
Before Steve Ross set his sights on a 1980s waterfront condo in West Palm Beach, Joey Columbo was picking up units in the building with the foresight that a developer would soon come knocking on doors with a buyout offer. Four years later, Columbo is walking away with a hefty payday after selling his eight units for a combined $6.4 million.
Fannie finds multifamily fraud fading. That’s one interpretation.
Fannie Mae says multifamily mortgage fraud appears to be cooling after a multi-year crackdown, though some industry veterans argue the misconduct may simply be moving out of sight. Tips and investigations into multifamily fraud fell to 12-month lows in 2025, following a sharp spike a year earlier, according to a partially redacted FHFA Office of Inspector General analysis.
How data center commissions created a gold rush for commercial real estate brokers
Commercial real estate brokers are piling into data centers as the sector morphs from a niche specialty into one of the industry’s most lucrative businesses, fueled by AI-driven demand and multibillion-dollar projects. With office leasing sluggish and capital markets uneven, data centers have emerged as a rare bright spot, generating outsized commissions as brokers straddle land sales, leasing and capital markets work in a single transaction.
Top bankruptcy attorney Jonathan Pasternak suspended for three years in NY’s Southern District
The bankruptcy attorney has been suspended for three years from practicing in the Southern District after admitting he took $260,000 in undisclosed payments tied to a bankruptcy case. The suspension stems from Pasternak receiving money from controversial real estate investor Sam Sprei while representing a client in the bankruptcy of a medical office building at 261 East 78th Street, without informing his client, the court or regulators.
Empire State Realty eyes $350M for Billionaires Row office building
Tony Malkin is putting a Billionaires Row office building on the market as he continues to diversify his bets. Malkin’s Empire State Realty Trust listed its 540,000-square-foot office building at 250 West 57th Street, eyeing a price of about $350 million.The 26-story property, which spans a full block between Eighth Avenue and Broadway and has in-building subway access, is 84 percent leased.
Lender GreenState seizes $178M suburban office campus from Shaya Prager
Shaya Prager’s unraveling portfolio suffered another blow this week as lender GreenState Credit Union has seized control of his Corporate 500 office campus in Deerfield. The seizure ends a foreclosure fight over the 697,000-square-foot suburban Chicago complex the embattled landlord’s firm bought for $178 million in 2022.
How Terra and Frisbie’s city-defining megaproject landed in the hands of the people
At a Boca Raton city council meeting in February 2025, the council approved a bid from Terra and Frisbie Group for a 2.5 million-square-foot multi-use project with a vision to transform Boca’s downtown into a tropical modern transit-oriented mini metropolis fit for an emerging hub of wealth and commerce. It was called “One Boca.”
Serhant team takes over sales at Shvo’s Mandarin Oriental
Michael Shvo’s Mandarin Oriental Residences are getting a new sales team. A Serhant team led by Peter Zaitzeff and Glenn Davis is taking over sales at the building in the latest bid to breathe life back into the 65-unit project, which has sold just about one-third of its condos since launching in 2021.
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Residential
National
Anywhere CEO Ryan Schneider out after 8 years
Commercial
National
Top JLL executive resigns after three weeks on the job
Residential
National
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman steps down after 20 years