Real estate companies in NYC: brokerages, landlords, managers and the public companies based here

Most people who search for real estate companies in NYC want a brokerage to buy, sell or rent through: Google answers with a map of local offices and Manhattan brokerage home pages. Others are job seekers, investors looking at the city's listed REITs, and businesses that sell to landlords and managers. This report covers what kinds of real estate company the city has, how to check a licence, which public companies are based here, what sellers should know and how to prospect the market.

NYC real estate in Census data

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 counts establishments in real estate (NAICS 531) across the five boroughs (Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond counties).

By size, 14,506 establishments have 1 to 4 employees, 2,207 have 5 to 9, 1,130 have 10 to 19 and 574 have 20 to 49. The Census Bureau doesn't publish the classes from 50 employees up for the five boroughs combined, because at least one borough's cells are withheld. Manhattan's own file does publish them: 95 establishments with 50 to 99 employees, 51 with 100 to 249, 18 with 250 to 499, 4 with 500 to 999 and 3 with 1,000 or more.

What CBP counts: establishments with paid employees, not companies, so a brokerage with six offices counts six times and a building owned through a single-purpose LLC with no staff isn't counted at all. Self-employed agents aren't included.

What kind of real estate company: the Census split

The six-digit rows add to 18,654 because two establishments in the borough files aren't assigned below the four-digit level. The appraisers' employee count is published but flagged as high-noise: confidentiality noise moved it by 5% or more.

Developers and builders aren't in this table: the Census Bureau classifies them in construction (subsector 236, and 237210 for land subdivision). Mortgage REITs sit in finance (525990). For the code a firm should use, see the NAICS code for real estate and the code for property management.

Brokerage is far bigger than its Census line. New York State's open data lists 12,546 licensed principal offices and 422 branch offices at NYC addresses, against 2,930 broker establishments with paid staff: most brokerages are run by owners and commission agents, not employees.

Licensed brokers and salespersons by borough

New York's Department of State licenses brokers (as individuals, or as the officer of a corporation, LLC, partnership or trade name), associate brokers and salespersons, and it licenses each office. Its active licence data, updated 29 October 2026, counts these at New York City business addresses:

The county is the business address of the brokerage each licensee works for. Statewide the file lists 76,279 salespersons, 15,962 associate brokers and 26,643 brokers.

The licence covers more than sales. The Department of State defines a broker as anyone who, for a fee, lists, sells, buys or rents property for others, and that includes anyone who "collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate." A company that manages apartments and collects rent for owners needs a broker's licence.

Public real estate companies headquartered in New York City

SEC-registered listed companies with real estate codes and a business address in the five boroughs, ranked by 2025 total revenues, each checked on the cover page and income statement of its latest Form 10-K:

Three things the filings add. Compass completed its merger with Anywhere Real Estate on 9 January 2026, and now runs brokerages under the Compass, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, Sotheby's International Realty and @properties brands. REITs run lean: VICI reported 28 employees and W. P. Carey 199. And Douglas Elliman, long a Manhattan name, now gives Miami as its principal executive office. Mortgage REITs such as MFA Financial, Ready Capital and Claros Mortgage Trust are also based here; they report interest income rather than rent. For the national ranking, see the biggest real estate companies in the US.

How to vet a NYC brokerage or manager

1. Look up the person and the firm. The Department of State sends real estate searches to eAccessNY's public licence search. Check that the licence is active and that the business name matches the firm you're dealing with.
2. Check the office. The open data file lists every licensed principal and branch office, so you can confirm the address on the agent's card is a licensed office.
3. For a rental, read the fee disclosure. Under the FARE Act, listings must show every fee the tenant pays, and a broker who represents the landlord can't charge the tenant.
4. For a manager, ask who holds the money (which account holds rents and deposits, how often owners get statements) and for references from buildings like yours.

If you're selling a home in New York City

• Disclosure depends on what you own. A seller of a one- to four-family house must complete the Property Condition Disclosure Statement and deliver it before the buyer signs a contract (Real Property Law section 462). Condominium units and co-op apartments are outside that definition (section 461), so their buyers rely on the building's documents and their own due diligence.
• Commission is negotiable. Since 17 August 2024, offers of compensation to buyers' brokers can't be communicated on a Realtor MLS, and buyers sign a written agreement with their own agent before touring. The National Association of Realtors' settlement notes say compensation is "not set by law and is fully negotiable."
• Interview two or three listing agents, ask for their recent sales in your building or neighborhood, and agree the length and exclusivity of the listing agreement in writing.

Prospecting NYC real estate companies

For brokerages, the buyer is often the individual agent, which is a different sale; see selling to real estate agents.

Illustrative example. The company, rates and results are invented.

Keystack Access (keystack.example) sells keyless entry for walk-up buildings and targets residential managers with five or more employees: 3,693 minus the 2,532 with fewer than five leaves 1,161 establishments. With two contacts each (a principal and the portfolio manager), that's 2,322 people. A 3% reply rate gives about 70 conversations, and if one in six leads to a pilot, about 12 pilots. The research that makes each first line specific is the slow part; Bebop does it for every account in a list.

Subject: Lockouts at [building]

Hi [first name], [company] manages [number] walk-ups in [neighborhood], and I'd guess key handoffs eat a few hours of your super's week. We fit keyless entry to the front and unit doors in a day per building, and residents get a phone key on move-in. Would a one-building pilot at [address] be worth a 15-minute look?

Sources for names and checks

For every industry in the city, see companies in New York City.

Next step: turn the segment you want into a named list with contacts using how to build a prospect list.