Balanced budgets, fewer staff, bigger promises: NAR lays out its post-crisis roadmap

In its push for increased transparency and accountability, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released an Annual Report for 2025. 

The report, which was released Tuesday, discusses the progress the trade group made in 2025 toward the 24 initiatives outlined in its 2026-2028 Strategic Plan, as well as outlines NAR’s priorities in 2026. The association said the priorities it will focus on in 2026 are a direct reflection of what NAR members and stakeholders told the trade group were valuable to them via meetings, surveys and focus groups conducted throughout 2025. 

According to NAR, the publication of this report, which is the first of its kind, demonstrates the association’s commitment to transparency and accountability. 

The 80 page report contains letters from NAR leaders including Kevin Sears, Nykia Wright and Kevin Brown, offers a breakdown of 2025 by the numbers and dives into NAR’s efforts toward executing its 2026-2028 Strategic Plan. 

2025: Focus on resetting and finding stability

According to NAR, 2025 was primarily focused on resetting and finding stability after years of legal and financial challenges, with the organization honing in on Sears’ goal of “getting back to basics.” 

As a center point of its focus on basics, NAR and its leaders highlight that 2025 marked the second year in a row the association implemented a balanced budget, a task it accomplished without raising membership dues. According to the report, this was accomplished via a 14% reduction in budgeted expenses year-over-year and a 14% decrease in staff headcount, which NAR said aligned with its “disciplined resource management.” 

“While we have a long way to go in realizing our full vision for NAR, I hope you can appreciate the work we have done to build the foundation for NAR to better serve our members and the industry,” Sears, NAR’s immediate past president, said in a statement. “We passed consecutive balanced budgets without raising dues, made our initial payment in compliance with the Sitzer-Burnett settlement terms and identified millions of dollars in savings through a strategic reexamination of our budgets, including our consumer ad campaign strategy and event planning processes. These are just the first steps in setting us up for long-term financial wellness.” 

2026: It’s back to business

In 2026, however, Brown, NAR’s 2026 President, said he and the trade group will be focused on “getting back to business.” In his letter, Brown wrote that this means NAR will be focused on helping its members “navigate the issues that impact their day-to-day business, like financing, inventory, insurance, zoning restrictions and other barriers to home and property ownership.” 

When it comes to the specifics of how NAR will accomplish its goal, the trade group looked toward its 2026-2028 Strategic Plan. According to the report, in 2026, NAR plans to build a more unified member dashboard, deliver market data faster than before and expand professional development offerings.

NAR notes that its ability to execute these priorities was made possible by the work it did in 2025, which included launching Metro Market Statistics Dashboard, expanding member-facing research and modernizing its education infrastructure, which included the relaunch of various Realtors certifications. 

When it comes to NAR’s seven other strategic commitment groups, the trade group completed built partner-facing assets to improve shared messaging with collaboration partners; shifting to proactive legal risk management by reviewing policies and making targeted Code of Ethics-related changes to reduce risk; delivering federal advocacy wins focused on tax policy and advancing housing supply and affordability efforts; investing in relationships by re-engaging directly with brokerages and expanding its prioritizing communication with members and stakeholders over public releases. 

Just the beginning

While NAR leaders expressed pride in what the association accomplished in 2025, as Wright wrote in her letter, those efforts are “just the beginning.” 

“As we move into 2026, our focus remains on exceeding the evolving needs of our members and stakeholders while anticipating the needs of the future,” Wright wrote. 

According to the report, this means that in 2026, the association will be focused on things like moving to need-based development for member tools and solutions; building a more accessible, centralized legal and regulatory inflation platform; maintaining a focus on housing affordability and supply with policymakers; strengthening state and local advocacy capacity; moving toward zero-based budgeting; sustaining and expanding brokerage engagement while attaining higher member participation goals; strengthening ethics guidance; and increasing communication transparency and speed. 

As the trade association focuses on its 2026-2028 Value Proposition, whose primary tenant is helping members “thrive in their business,” it remains to be seen how NAR will execute on its 2026 priorities and if its members will feel the trade group has delivered that promised value. 

“Our organization has been serving Realtors for more than a century, and I see this strategic plan as the first three years of our next 100 years of business,” Brown said in a statement. “We’re helping our members navigate the issues that impact their day-to-day business… It means leveling up areas that members already find valuable, such as our advocacy, research and tech tools. And it means finding new ways to help our members get to, and execute, their next transaction.”