The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released on April 21 its first quarterly update on the 2026-2028 strategic plan, highlighting its affordable housing efforts and collaborations with multiple listing services (MLSs).

In the first quarter of implementation, NAR initiated two-thirds of the plan’s projects. Early successes centered on affordable housing, NAR’s brand and broker relationships.

“This plan was built for action,” NAR CEO Nykia Wright said in a release. “Rebuilding trust requires more than words — it requires visible progress. That’s why we’re committed to sharing clear, regular updates that show members how this work is making a real difference.”

Additional work across education, corporate partnerships, MLS relationships and governance were informed by NAR members through committee involvement, focus groups and other feedback mechanisms.

“Members are actively shaping this work,” NAR President Kevin Brown said. “From education to governance to housing supply, Realtors are directly influencing the decisions and work that matter most to the industry.”

The update on NAR’s progress in the first quarter highlighted the actions taken to reach its goals and potential next steps.

• Affordable housing: The Senate recently passed the 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act and NAR conducted original consumer sentiment research about the state of housing affordability to help the act advance in the Senate. NAR also launched the Building Better Communities landing page, highlighting state and local successes in zoning reform, growth and more.

• Broker relationship: NAR launched smallbroker.realtor to provide tailored resources for smaller brokerages and initiated an engagement calendar with over 35 live events across 21 states and over 7,000 in-person and virtual touchpoints across enterprise, mid-size and independent firms. NAR also hosted over 14 broker summits and conferences nationwide and made over 1,400 industry connections across 56 different companies.
• MLS collaboration: NAR reinstituted and restructured the MLS Executive Advisory Group to gather direct feedback from a select group of MLS CEOs, allowing NAR to hear in real time how NAR can further support MLSs. NAR also launched two resources to help MLSs participants and staff evaluate whether a listing marketed as “coming soon” complies with applicable MLS rules and NAR MLS policy.

• Member education: NAR completed planning for a three-year education road map guided by what members need to reach their next transaction and is currently designing a new Learning Management System to better integrate with NAR and partner systems.

• Corporate partnerships: NAR integrated Realtors Property Resource into Realtor.com’s new Realtor.com+ MLS product to give members easier access to market insights and to build a stronger channel for NAR’s advocacy messaging using Realtor.com’s consumer reach.
• NAR brand: NAR leveraged artificial intelligence-powered data, and behavioral and attitudinal signals in its new consumer ad campaign to make sure the message reached first-time buyers as they were looking to hire an agent. NAR also formed a brand protection team to coordinate across platforms, partners and audiences.

• NAR governance: NAR updated the application process to collect relevant experience based on the specific committee the member is applying to, making things clearer and fairer and reviewed 95 committees, councils and advisory boards representing over 2,000 volunteer roles to better align with strategic priorities.

According to the update, NAR’s second quarter priorities include continuing to push for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and deepening industry partnerships with associations and MLS leaders to ensure the association is making member-driven decisions compliant with antitrust policies.