The 36 Most Powerful Real Estate Brokers in New York

For all the hand-wringing about a sluggish American housing market, the luxury sector seems to be doing just fine, especially in New York, especially at the very top. In 2025, more city condos, townhouses and coops sold than

in the previous year. The median sale price was higher, and inventory, while tight, improved. Rents, meanwhile, continued to climb above previous records. From mid-2024 through 2025, New York had the best performing housing market in the country, according to the Federal Reserve. A-number one. Top of the heap.

“The New York City real estate market in 2025 was a surprisingly strong one,” says StreetEasy senior economist Kenny Lee. “As mortgage rates continued to moderate this fall, buyers and sellers both rushed to the market. With more homes on the market, buyers had more options and the city saw more sales.”

As every agent knows, high demand and tight inventory mean one thing: big deals. For our 2026 hot list of the top real estate agents in New York and the Hamptons, THR crunched numbers, surveyed the city’s top brokerages and scoured public records for celebrity sales and blockbuster deals.

Emily Beare

After more than 21 years as a broker, earning more than $4 billion in sales, Beare feels this is the first time she is working in a balanced market.

“Sellers have become more realistic, and buyers realize that if they see something they like, and it is well priced, they need to act quickly,’’ she explains.

She just put Mariah Carey’s penthouse on the market and sold Rupert Murdoch’s apartment on Central Park South.