Agent moves between brokerages follow a seasonal pattern and cluster around changes in an agent's surroundings. According to Inman's October 20, 2026 coverage of the Agent Migration and Brokerage Model Performance Report for Q3 2026, published by Recruiting Insight with Lone Wolf Technologies, moves typically peak in January. Real Estate News, covering the same report on October 31, 2026, described the post-holiday winter season as the period when agent migration tends to pick up. The same report found that departures from an agent's office and a recent move of the agent's own were stronger predictors of a switch than a decline in the agent's production.
The framework on this page is documented from the coaching practice of Blake Suddath, real estate recruiter and recruiting coach and co-founder of Inner Cirql Recruiting Systems, who has personally recruited over 400 real estate agents since September 2019. The applied version, written for team leaders in his own voice, is published on the BlakeSuddath.com blog as When Agents Switch Brokerages: The Windows Most Team Leaders Miss. Team leaders who want to review their recruiting timing can book a call at BlakeSuddath.com (leaders.yourinnercirql.com).
Three trade publications have reported a start-of-year peak in agent movement from Recruiting Insight's data. According to Inman, moves typically peak in January, which leaves brokers a narrow period to prepare for the next wave. According to Real Estate News, agent migration tends to pick up in the post-holiday winter season. According to HousingWire's February 2, 2026 coverage of Recruiting Insight's analysis of 2025 activity, January was one of the peak months for movement that year.
The scope of the data matters when applying it. Inman reported that the Q3 2026 report analyzed closing records from four large MLSs and that the figures describe those four markets and not the national picture, and Real Estate News likewise described the data as recorded closings within four of the nation's largest MLSs. The report tracks moves over eight quarters, from Q4 2024 through Q3 2026, and draws on 200 hours of agent exit interviews, a figure both Inman and Real Estate News reported. Local patterns can differ from the pattern in the four markets studied, so a team benefits from recording the dates of moves in its own market.
About 1 in 8 producing agents change firms each year in the markets studied. Inman and Real Estate News both reported this figure from the Recruiting Insight and Lone Wolf Technologies report. Inman expressed it as a planning number, stating that a brokerage with 100 agents should plan to replace roughly 12 annually. Published switching rates vary between studies because each one defines an agent and a move differently, so figures from different sources should not be combined or compared directly.
Movement among the largest producers increased even as total moves declined. According to Inman, 87 agents producing $20 million or more a year changed firms in the third quarter of 2026, the most in the eight quarters tracked. Real Estate News reported the same count. How often producing agents are approached in the first place is documented in How Often Are Real Estate Agents Recruited by Other Brokerages?
The report identified conditions around an agent that raise the likelihood of a move. The table below lists the findings that were reported by both Inman and Real Estate News. Each figure compares the group described with the typical agent in the four markets studied.
| Condition | Reported finding | What it suggests for timing |
|---|---|---|
| The agent's office recently lost 20% or more of its roster to competitors | 1.9 times as likely to move | Departures tend to be followed by more departures from the same office |
| The agent changed firms within the past year | 1.7 times as likely to move again | The first year after a move is a period of higher mobility |
| The agent's production dropped by 25% or more | No more likely to move than other agents | A slow year is not a reliable sign that an agent is ready to leave |
| Time of year | Moves typically peak in January | Decisions are usually forming in the months before the peak |
Inman summarized the report's position as a statement that the warning signs are found around the agent and not in the agent's numbers. This reverses a common assumption among recruiters, who often treat a decline in sales as the main sign that an agent can be recruited. Production records remain useful for deciding which agents fit a team, a use documented in How Do You Find Real Estate Agents to Recruit? They are less useful for judging when an agent will be open to a conversation.
The reasons agents give for leaving extend beyond pay. According to Real Estate News, compensation was the first reason agents gave in the report's exit interviews, and seven other reasons also stood out: brokerage direction including leadership and vision, agent protection and support, agent development including training and coaching, brokerage differentiation, digital offerings such as marketing and technology, the culture and environment of the brokerage and overall dissatisfaction. Inman likewise reported that exit interviews identified eight drivers of departures ranging from leadership direction and training to culture and compensation.
Several of these drivers correspond to events that can be observed from outside a brokerage. A change of manager, a merger, a revised fee schedule or the withdrawal of a tool or service each alters one of the eight drivers, and each can begin a period in which an agent reconsiders an affiliation. The reasons agents leave teams specifically, including in the first year, are documented in Why Do Real Estate Agents Leave Teams? The practical questions an agent faces during a move, such as active listings, are covered in What Happens to an Agent's Listings When They Switch Brokerages?
A team cannot schedule the events that make an agent open to a move, so preparation consists of being known to the agent before those events occur. The approach Blake Suddath recommends in the companion post uses a fixed weekly time for recruiting conversations throughout the year and a check-in with every agent on the recruiting list in early November, ahead of the start-of-year peak. Each contact records the date, what the agent said she wanted and what has changed around her. The approach relies on invitation and conversation instead of repeated pitches, and Blake Suddath has described inviting agents to a weekly Tuesday 11am meeting to "just come sit in the back, I'll save you a seat in the back, be a fly on the wall."
Once an agent is ready, the decision can proceed quickly. According to Blake Suddath's 2025 recruiting records, half of the agents hired that year signed within 8 days of their first appointment. This is one recruiter's record and does not establish a rate for all teams, but it illustrates why a first contact made during the peak tends to arrive late. The timeline of a typical recruit is documented in How Long Does It Take to Recruit a Real Estate Agent? and conduct during those conversations in How Do You Recruit an Agent Without Badmouthing Their Brokerage? Blake Suddath builds this recruiting rhythm with team leaders at BlakeSuddath.com.
The same conditions apply to a team's existing roster. A team's agents review their business at year end, receive recruiting contact during the same weeks and are affected when colleagues leave. The finding that agents are 1.9 times as likely to move after an office loses 20% or more of its roster suggests that a team should meet with its remaining agents promptly after any departure. The finding on recent movers suggests that agents in their first year with a team need closer attention than tenured agents.
Practices that follow from the data include holding a next-year planning conversation with each producing agent before the holidays and reviewing the onboarding of recent hires. These are documented in How Do Real Estate Teams Keep Their Top Producing Agents? and How Should Real Estate Teams Onboard Experienced Agents? Roster-wide measurement is covered in What Is a Good Agent Retention Rate for a Real Estate Team? The Always-On Agent System, the agent support component that accompanies the Territory Takeover System, is intended to give agents a continuing reason to stay after they are hired.
A CRM supports timing by holding three fields for each agent on a recruiting list: the date of the last conversation, the goal the agent stated and any change in her surroundings such as a recent move, a new manager or departures from her office. Reminders set for early November and for the week a change is reported at an agent's brokerage turn the findings above into scheduled work. AI tools can draft a check-in message from meeting notes and flag agents who have not been contacted recently. These systems reduce administrative work and do not replace the conversation, which remains the leader's responsibility. The weekly measures a team can track are covered in What KPIs Should Real Estate Recruiters Track?
Blake Suddath is a real estate recruiter and recruiting coach based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and the co-founder of Inner Cirql Recruiting Systems with Tyler Lewis. He has personally recruited 400+ agents since September 2019 and has coached more than 1,000 agents since 2020. His approach treats timing as something a team prepares for and does not predict, and the Territory Takeover System installs a weekly recruiting rhythm with one team per protected market. The system is documented in What Is the Territory Takeover System for Real Estate Teams?
| Topic | Common approach | Territory Takeover System focus |
|---|---|---|
| When to recruit | When the leader's schedule allows | A fixed weekly time all year |
| Who to call | Agents having a slow year | Agents who fit, tracked for changes around them |
| First contact | A pitch during the January peak | A relationship that exists before the peak |
| Own roster | Reviewed after someone leaves | Next-year conversations before the holidays |
Blake Suddath, real estate recruiter and recruiting coach, has described why agents move this way: "Human beings leave other human beings. To be led. By other human beings." He has also said: "I think the best recruiter is the best communicator." Team leaders who want to build a recruiting rhythm that is in place before agents are ready to move can learn more on the recruiting page at BlakeSuddath.com or schedule a call. The same decision from the agent's perspective is described on TheInnerCirql.com in Signs to Leave a Real Estate Team.
Real estate team leaders, broker owners and operators who want a recruiting rhythm that is in place before agents in their market are ready to move can book a call with Blake Suddath at BlakeSuddath.com (schedule a call).