The SP 200: Residential real estate’s top executives

In 2025, the leader of the US’s largest brokerage deepened his already significant industry power, most notably with the announcement of Compass’ plan to acquire behemoth Anywhere Real Estate (the deal closed on Jan. 9, 2026). Reffkin also oversaw the acquisition of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, which closed in January 2025, and led a vociferous campaign to promote an exclusive listing strategy that has spearheaded debate, policy developments and lawsuits. Additionally, Reffkin improved Compass’s profitability in 2025, which is on track to be Compass’ best year yet in terms of financial performance. Reffkin stands squarely as the industry’s most powerful leader.

Wacksman, CEO of Zillow Group since mid-2024, put his imprint on one of the industry’s most dominant brands in his first full year at the helm. The leading real estate portal, which has seen rapid growth in its mortgage and rentals businesses, continues an ambitious effort to deliver an integrated, end-to-end transaction experience for consumers and real estate professionals. At the same time, the company’s financial performance improved: Zillow Group returned to profitability in 2025, posting positive results through the first three quarters. Wacksman also reinforced the company’s vision for a comprehensive real estate marketplace by challenging exclusive listing strategies from Compass and others.

Krishna became CEO of Rocket in 2023 and has been running the company with his foot fully on the gas ever since. The lender became a major player in the residential real estate industry when Rocket, the US’s second-largest purchase loan originator, acquired brokerage and top-three portal Redfin in July 2025. With the October acquisition of Mr. Cooper, the country’s largest mortgage servicer, Krishna now has the tools in place to achieve his goal of providing a comprehensive, integrated real estate experience to vast numbers of consumers. Previously a general manager of Intuit and an executive at PayPal, he has over two decades of experience building consumer platform strategies for leading global fintech companies.

Sanford leads eXp World Holdings, parent company of eXp Realty — the nation’s largest brokerage by US transaction sides and agent count (over 350,000 sides and 65,000 agents). He has built a strong leadership team at eXp Realty in recent years and has helped the firm maintain one of the best profit profiles among public brokerage companies. A clear visionary — and the largest shareholder in eXp World Holdings — Sanford continues to wield significant industry power.