High-class brokerage service SERHANT. The company told Inman it will begin operations across California on Tuesday, opening simultaneously in five markets in the state.
The expansion, which spans Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Marin County and Tahoe, will be the company’s first West Coast location. Expanding west also creates a national footprint, which the company has been building toward since its 2020 founding.
Serhant. will launch with 65 agents across five regions, including 16 founding agents who have achieved more than $2 billion in combined sales in the past 12 months.
“We always intended to go to California. It’s just a matter of when we get the rights,” CEO and founder Ryan Serhant told Inman. “I know this is a national company, and my goal is to make this company not only the biggest, but the best real estate company on the planet for buyers, sellers, and agents.”
Ryan Serhant | Serhant. studio
get the rights
The California launch is the latest in a rapid national expansion by SERHANT. From a New York-based startup to a company with over 2,000 agents in 16 states. Since 2020, the company has expanded to New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. The company reported sales of $7.1 billion in 2025, with year-over-year growth of more than 100%.
Serhant said California’s current market dynamics made the timing right, noting increased negotiability in the luxury segment.
“We think buyers are gaining tremendous leverage through high-end trophy assets, which continue to drive premium prices, but are increasingly finding negotiability,” he said. “I think the ultra-luxury segment will continue to be active.”
He also rejected the narrative that wealthy Californians are fleeing the state, viewing the immigration debate as an opportunity rather than a headwind.
“There’s a lot of talk of wealthy people leaving California, so I think this is a great opportunity,” Serhant said. “I don’t think people are necessarily leaving Los Angeles. I think they’re adding residences elsewhere. They’re building their portfolios.”
He said changes in the way high-net-worth clients approach real estate are reshaping what they expect from agents.
“It used to be that real estate agents were real estate agents,” Serhant said. “Today, especially in the luxury industry, you’re a real estate strategist. As an agent, you’re with the client, you’re thinking about portfolios, you’re thinking about collectives, you’re thinking about lifestyle for the next 10 years.”
another model
California’s luxury market is home to some of the industry’s most recognizable names, including Jason Oppenheim, Mauricio Umansky, and Gary Gold. Serhant said he doesn’t see the expansion as direct competition with those brands.
“We’re not necessarily trying to compete with other agencies,” he said. “I’m an agent. I founded this company with and for agents. DNA was created by agents.”
He said SERHANT.’s key differentiator is its technology infrastructure, calling the company “the only AI-native real estate company in the United States.” According to Serhant, the company’s proprietary platform, S.MPLE, automates agent management tasks and delivers measurable results.
“The average agent using S.MPLE saw a 144% increase in GCI over the first 12 months, even without anything else changing,” he said.
The company also operates SERHANT. Studios is an in-house production company that executive produces original content such as the Netflix series “Owning Manhattan,” as well as top-of-funnel content that the company claims drives lead flow to agents.
“Because our distribution funnel is the largest of any brokerage, we are able to introduce our properties to more qualified, high-profile people looking to list than anyone else on the planet,” said Serhant.
Serhant said the 16 founding agents joining Tuesday were not recruited for financial incentives, describing the company’s approach to growth as organic.
“I’m only going to work with people who have earned the right to work with me in this company, so we’re not buying them out,” he said. “If you come for the opportunity, you stay for the result. And no other company guarantees that.”
2 camps
Outside of California, Serhant expanded on comments he made at Inman Connect earlier this year, predicting that the industry will eventually consolidate to about two companies.
He framed the future shakeout not as a competition between specific companies, but as a philosophical division.
“The industry is now consolidating and splitting into two camps,” he said. “One camp is empowering real estate because real estate is the market. Real estate provides transactions. And when you empower real estate, you value people, but people become a byproduct of property. And that’s where we are. And I’m here just to empower people.”
Serhant said Serhant. There are no plans to grow through acquisitions.
“We are growing organically, albeit at breakneck speed,” he said. “I think there is a great opportunity for pro-independence to emerge stronger than ever and remain independent.”
He added that the company’s retention rate (which he cited as around 99 percent) reflects the outcomes agents experience, rather than financial incentives to retain them.
Serhant said the expansion in California is not through the roof.
“We’ll stop at nothing until we get there,” he said of his goal of building the best real estate company on the planet. “California and the United States are a big piece of that puzzle.”
Correction: Serhant. is present in five markets. Mr. Inman originally reported some of the company’s submarkets as separate markets.
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