New Survey Says 62% of Agents Expect More Transactions over the Next 12 Months

Heading into summer, more than half of real estate agents expect transaction volume to pick up in the next 30 days. That’s a 19-point jump in confidence from just one quarter ago.

Agents have always been the market’s best early warning system. They feel the shift before the numbers reflect it. 

A negotiation that goes smoother than expected. A listing that pulls multiple offers. An open house that draws twice the traffic. 

By the time the data catches up, agents who are paying attention have already adapted.

Zillow’s Q1 2026 Agent Sentiment Survey puts numbers to what a lot of agents are picking up on the ground. The survey polls 300 to 450 residential real estate agents each month and tracks expectations around transactions, prices, and market conditions. 

What it’s showing right now is a market that’s gaining confidence.

Short-Term Confidence Rebounded Sharply

One quarter ago, only 32% of real estate agents expected transaction volume to increase in the next 30 days. That number is now 51%. For context, that puts short-term confidence back at the same level agents reported at the start of 2025.

What changed? Agents on the ground started feeling the momentum build. The Q4 caution that defined the end of last year has given way to something that looks a lot more like conviction. 

Here’s where agent sentiment stands right now on the short-term outlook:

• 51% of agents expect transaction volume to increase in the next 30 days, up from 32% last quarter
• 42% expect home prices to hold roughly flat in the near term
• Only 18% expect prices to dip

The 12-Month Outlook Is Even Stronger

The 12-month picture is what should really get your attention. Agent confidence in the year ahead held firm coming into Q1.

• 62% of agents expect transaction volume to increase over the next 12 months
• Nearly 60% expect home prices to rise over the next year
• Only about 1 in 5 expect price declines

That 62% figure on transaction volume is unchanged from Q4 2025. Agents went into 2026 already feeling good about where the year was heading, and that conviction hasn’t wavered. 

When more than half your peers are expecting a busier year and price growth is the majority expectation, clients who are sitting on the fence about timing need to hear that.

If you’re working with someone who’s been waiting for a signal that the market is stabilizing, this is a useful data point to put in front of them. Not a guarantee, but a clear read from the people closest to the transactions.

It’s Still a Buyer’s Market

For the second consecutive quarter, more agents describe their local market as favorable for buyers than for sellers. The numbers suggest that’s not a temporary reading.

• 49% of agents describe current conditions as buyer-favorable
• 35% describe conditions as seller-favorable
• In Q1 2025, those numbers were flipped: 47% seller-favorable, 42% buyer-favorable
• The seller-favorable reading has held at 35% for two straight quarters

If you’re working with buyers who’ve spent the last few years feeling squeezed out of the market, this is the data that tells them the window is open.

For your seller clients, pricing conversations need to be grounded in what the market is actually doing right now. If you walk into a listing appointment with that context ready, you’re a lot less likely to watch a deal fall apart over a price that made sense in 2022.

Here’s How to Use This

Zillow’s survey is a quarterly snapshot, not a crystal ball. What it gives you is a credible, data-backed read on where agent confidence stands right now, and that’s something you can actually use in a client conversation this week.

When a buyer asks if the market is improving, you can tell them more than half of the real estate agents across the country expect transaction volume to increase in the next 30 days, and 62% expect a busier year ahead.

No need to recite every stat. Pick the ones most relevant to the conversation in front of you and lead with them. 

The goal is to show up as the person in the room who knows what’s happening.