Agents told Intel that artificial intelligence had improved their productivity “significantly,” but other agents reported less encouraging results. See what tools other agents aren’t using.
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The ever-widening adoption of artificial intelligence tools in the real estate sector is increasing agent productivity, but so far the differences between most agents have been small.
But some AI power users are already reporting “significant” increases in productivity, according to the latest Inman Intel Index results.
How much do you think AI tools have improved your work productivity over the past year?
Productivity increased significantly — 11% Productivity increased slightly — 46% No difference — 25% Productivity decreased slightly — 1% Productivity decreased significantly — 0.4% Bringing AI tools to your business Not used — 17%
This December survey shed light on the brokerage industry, where hundreds of real estate agents are increasingly deploying AI for tasks such as creating property descriptions and marketing materials. Well over half of survey respondents reported regularly using these tools for text generation.
But the results also revealed less obvious AI tools that some agents claim have significantly increased their productivity.
Read the full report to discover the latest technologies power users love.
AI in the securities industry
For more than a year, real estate professionals have been exploring the use of AI to streamline tasks like writing property descriptions and posting to social media.
By late December, these two applications had become the most prevalent uses of AI in real estate, agents told Intel.
Which of the following tasks do you regularly use AI tools for in your business?Select all that apply.
Generating text for property descriptions — 59% Generating text for social media or marketing materials — 48% Analyzing market data or creating summaries — 18% Generating images for social media or marketing materials — 12% Digital staging software Edit listing photos with — 11% Manage leads and tasks in your database — 10% Edit images for social media and marketing materials — 10% Automating direct communication with clients using chatbots, etc. Automated communication tools — 9% Summarizing contracts and other business documents — 8% Generating videos for social media and marketing materials — 7% Contracts and other business documents Generating documents — 6% Extracting data from property photos using image analysis software — 3% Do not regularly use AI for any of the above tasks – 30%
Most agents told Intel they were using their own preferred AI tools.
A smaller group (approximately 1 in 3 agent respondents) said they rely primarily on AI tools provided by their brokerage firm or use a similar combination in their work.
However, the results show that there is an ongoing distrust of tools like ChatGPT, which are known to “hallucinate” facts and introduce errors that require human checking.
Here, the agent criticized the reliability of the AI.
When using generative AI services such as ChatGPT or similar tools to generate text that must be factually accurate or to answer factual questions, how do you describe your level of confidence in the results? mosquito?
I have high confidence that the text produced by my AI tool is accurate — 6% I believe that AI results are usually accurate, but I expect the occasional factual error to occur — 34% Generated AI is good enough to: Although useful, we expect frequent factual errors — 42% believe AI-generated text is fundamentally unreliable — 18 %
With these caveats in mind, some agents have discovered areas where AI tools have significantly increased their self-reported productivity.
What is an AI power user?
For Intel’s purposes, we define an AI power user as an agent who says an AI tool has “significantly” increased their productivity.
This group is part of the overall pool of agents (representing a total of 29 agents in the most recent survey), and their resulting responses should be taken with a grain of salt.
That said, some important differences stood out in their response to Intel.
Here are five areas where AI power user groups appear to differ most from the broader agent population.
Which of the following tasks do you regularly use AI tools for in your business?Select all that apply.
Summary of contracts or other business documents — 35% of power users vs. 8% of all agents Drafting contracts or other business documents — 24% of power users vs. 6% of all agents for social media or marketing materials of power users — 28% of power users vs. 7% of all agents Automate direct client communications, such as chatbots and other automated communication tools — 24% of power users vs. all agents 9% Analyze or summarize market data – 45% of power users, 18% of all agents
Given the sensitivity of contracts and direct client communications, it’s not hard to imagine why many real estate professionals are reluctant to apply AI to these areas of their business.
But if the AI trust gap can be resolved, a big “what if” in an industry where each transaction is so important and complex, these little-used capabilities could ultimately greatly improve agent productivity. Possibly.
Methodology note: This month’s Inman Intel Index study was conducted from December 18, 2024 to January 2024. As of April 4, 2025, 553 responses were received. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating selection of randomly selected community members were encouraged to participate via email. Users answered a series of questions about their self-proclaimed niche in the real estate industry, including real estate agents, brokers, financiers, and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the views of our passionate Inman community, but do not necessarily align with the views of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.
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