After a middling third quarter, Douglas Elliman CEO Michael Liebowitz told investors that recent changes and efforts to the company are to “modernize” and build a “more efficient platform” by early 2027.
The luxury brokerage’s revenue fell short in the third quarter at $252.1 million for 2026, a $10 million drop compared to 2025’s revenue of $262.8 million.
For the first nine months of the year, revenue also dropped and was reported at $749.9 million. In 2025, that revenue was reported at $787.6 million.
During the Q3 earnings call for Douglas Elliman, Liebowitz claimed that the last quarter was about “technological upgrades” and emphasized the company’s movement toward execution.
“Technology is central to our strategy, and the transformation we introduced last quarter has continued to advance as part of our broader efforts to modernize the business and reduce costs,” he stated.
The company has faced struggles both in the market and internally over the past two years, with C-suite turnover and competition in its home market of New York City.
After the earnings report, the company’s stock jumped 12%, though it is still down 30% this year.
Liebowitz also mentioned multiple additions to Douglas Elliman this past quarter, including Sharon Milz as head of AI technology transformation, Nick Patino as director of AI enablement and Jamie Gagliano as chief operations officer.
“Sharon is overseeing our enterprise AI strategy and deployment as well as the broader technology transformation across the company,” he added. “Nick focuses on making sure these capabilities become part of how we get things done across the company, translating new technology into adoption, productivity and measuring business value. Jamie brings significant experience working with agents and building businesses. She’s already looking across our national operations at how we simplify processes, strengthen support and build a more scalable organization.”
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Aside from a drop in revenue, Douglas Elliman also reported a drop in operating income (loss) annually. For Q3 2026, the company reported an operating income of $6.3 million, while last year’s operating loss clocked in at $10.7 million.
Bryant Kirkland—Douglas Elliman’s CFO—stated on the Q3 earnings call, however, that the year-over-year comparisons lean negatively because of 2025’s data.
“The year-over-year comparisons for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2026 are impacted by a difficult comparable, due to an unusually strong first quarter of 2025,” he noted.
Adjusted EBITDA—or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—may signal positive growth for the brokerage, as Q3’s EBITDA was $5.3 million compared to last year’s $1 million.
While the adjusted EBITDA grew for Q3, the company’s adjusted net loss greatly overshadows many gains, as it reported the adjusted net loss at nearly $8 million, compared to last year’s $1.4 million.
Existing-home sales, Kirkland mentioned, were up 1.9% from October 2026, compared to October 2025. But, this result was weighed down. October 2026 had one fewer sales day than last year, Kirkland said. In reality, the receipts from existing-home sales were down 2.7% in October 2026 compared to October 2025.
Liebowitz attributed many of the Q3 losses to changes, and called it a “growth stage.”
Kirkland claimed the company would see returns on its current investments—such as the development marketing pipeline of $26 billion and the additional $11.8 billion scheduled to come to market Dec. 31, 2027—between 2026 and 2032. In particular, Kirkland mentioned Florida’s real estate market and its marketing value.
“We see positive indicators within our development marketing business in Florida, with approximately $19.5 billion gross transaction value, of the $26 billion of gross transaction value that is being actively marketed,” he added. “For most projects in Florida, we receive progress payments during the marketing process and defer the related revenue and commission it spent until the earnings process is complete, which is when the underlying sale closes.”
After investing in an “AI transformation” last quarter, the Q3 earnings release noted that the initiative is expected to gradually drive significant savings in non-commission operating expenses over the next three years.
“Modernizing those systems should make the company more efficient while giving our agents and employees better tools and more time to focus on clients, relationships and growing their businesses,” Liebowitz claimed. “That work is underway, and we remain focused on gradually realizing meaningful efficiencies in our non-commission operating expenses beginning in 2027.”
