What’s Changing with Real Estate Investing in 2026

Just like that, another year is almost gone. And what a year it’s been! From the impact of AI to increasing regulations on real estate wholesaling to a still questionable real estate market, 2025 kept investors on their toes and gave them a lot to think about. And next year is sure to be just as exciting!  To help you prepare, we talked to some real estate industry experts to get their predictions for 2026 and how investors can prepare. There will be more opportunity than ever in real estate over the next 5 years, but it’ll take a big change in how you do business. — Trever Mauch Key Takeaways Table of Contents Impacts to real estate investing in 2025 AI has a HUGE Impact on Search Traffic Growing Real Estate Wholesale Regulation How the real estate market will change in 2026 Investors need to step up their game in 2026 How to be a successful investor in 2026 AI in 2026 Prep for a Successful 2026 Lead generation, at its best Attract, convert & close more motivated leads Try Carrot Today Impacts to real estate investing in 2025 In 2025, we saw some major impacts to real estate investing. You should know about all of these as we go into the new year. AI has a HUGE Impact on Search Traffic If your web traffic or leads have dipped this year, it might not be a softening market or increased competition. It might be the impact of AI search. AI has been a major theme of 2025 across all industries, and one of the most noticeable impacts is how it’s changed people’s search habits. While the old routine was to go to your favorite search engine and click on a link that looked relevant, AI has swept that process away almost entirely. A solid half (50%) of consumers purposefully use an AI search tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity, according to an October report from McKinsey & Company. And these folks aren’t just looking for information. The majority of users told McKinsey that “it’s the top digital source they use to make buying decisions.” Meaning they’re turning to AI for recommendations and insights, not just a list of potential services or providers. The report goes on to predict that AI search tools could reduce traffic from traditional search channels (like Google or Bing) by 20-50%. Even consumers still using a traditional search engine are likely to be hit with an AI result first anyway. The McKinsey report found that roughly 50% of Google searches return an AI Summary Overview, and the trends point to that number increasing to 75% of searches by 2028 (though I’d honestly be surprised if it takes that long). Real estate investors who have honed in their SEO to rank high in search results have a solid foundation set for AI search, but they can’t rest on their laurels. Learn how to adjust your SEO for AI search > Growing Real Estate Wholesale Regulation States regulating residential wholesaling is nothing new (it’s been happening since at least 2019, when Illinois updated its Real Estate License Act). This year, multiple states introduced, passed, or implemented their own wholesaling laws: This is a reminder to keep a close eye on the requirements and regulations in anywhere you wholesale real estate. Whether you’re just getting started or have been in the game for a while, things can change. For those hopeful of preventing strict regulations on wholesale real estate, presenting the right message could be key. “Wholesaling has been branded ‘predatory’ by the retail real estate lobby. … Continued Source