Realty AI, a smart chatbot specifically designed for real estate agents that uses advanced technology and current market data, has grown significantly since the company launched in January 2024.

“In our first year, we got 100 paid agents,” co-founder Peter Kachan told RENX Homes in an interview that also included marketing director Nathan Smith. 

“Last year we scaled to over 5,000 and now we're at 8,000 agents and 600 clients, including top brokerages and teams across Canada. It's been a fast and furious journey, but it's been great so far.”

Realty AI employs an artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant named Madison on real estate websites that acts as a 24/7 concierge that responds to questions, manages conversations, books meetings and tries to ensure that no leads slip through the cracks.  

“Forty per cent of all leads captured in conversations occur after hours, so a lot of people are interacting with it outside of business hours, which speaks to the importance of having something there to help these folks out,” Kachan said.

Turning interactions into transactions

Agents use Realty AI to save time, energy and resources. It also helps convert website traffic into leads and provides context for meetings with clients. The chatbot is connected to the Internet and can answer geo-specific real estate questions across any market.

“AI is not going to replace agents,” Kachan said. “You just have to continue to have hyper-local strategies.”

Eighty-two per cent of people expect responses within 10 minutes, and a one-minute response time can lead to 391 per cent more conversions, according to Realty AI. It claims the chatbot’s use can earn agents tens of thousands of dollars in gross commission income for an investment of $100 a month.

“If you have traffic on your site, you're going to get transactions,” Kachan said. “So a lot of top performers that know how to close will see a lot of value from adding this to their site.”

2025 State of Real Estate Conversations report

Realty AI has now taken insights from more than five million interactions, 31,000 distinct conversations and 250,000 messages exchanged in more than 1,000 cities and towns across Canada and compiled its 2025 State of Real Estate Conversations report to further assist agents in closing deals.

“A lot of data in real estate is transactional data which occurs at the very end of the funnel, whereas our data comes top of funnel,” Kachan said. “It's showing intent signals before they show up in the actual raw data.”

Almost two-thirds of people who visit real estate websites are already past the exploration phase and are either searching or ready to act, according to the report. More than 72 per cent of geo-tagged conversations were address- or neighbourhood-specific.

“AI is really good at turning unstructured data into actual structured data and then tagging it,” Kachan explained. “We've used 15 different meta tags to tag the data from these conversations, such as urgency, timeline, budget and the journey stage they're in.” 

Most buyer conversations are transactional, not exploratory; and when buyers show readiness, conversion becomes the norm.

What home buyers are looking for

Single-family homes were the leading focus of buyer attention at 37.1 per cent nationally, followed by condominiums at 33.5 per cent, townhomes at 14.7 per cent, land at 5.8 per cent, commercial properties at five per cent, pre-construction at 3.1 per cent, multi-family at 0.9 per cent and vacation homes at 0.3 per cent.
  
The report also analyzed 18 Canadian markets and showed how home buyers behave in each one. It highlighted where buyers are most active, which property types dominate provincial searches, and how regional conditions shape the motivations behind those inquiries.

“Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg had a lot quicker timelines to buy than bigger cities, and maybe that speaks to the price point,” Kachan said. “Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver skewed towards more condos versus the middle of the country.”

“Between $500,000 and $800,000 is usually where we see that sweet spot” for sales, Smith said, who also acknowledged it’s often a bit higher in Canada’s largest cities.

“That's the kind of range that agents should hopefully aim for if they want to get the most clients.”

This budget distribution reinforces a broad mid-market demand profile, with limited but steady engagement at both the entry and luxury ends. The overall composition of inquiry topics, property types and budget signals points to a market dominated by active and financially engaged buyers.

Kachan said there’s a major uptick in traffic and conversations on real estate websites from March to early May as well as in October and November.

Despite broader economic uncertainty, the intensity and specificity of user inquiries indicate a sustained interest in residential real estate, supported by easing borrowing conditions and stable market fundamentals. Conversations skew toward users who are evaluating listings in real time, seeking clarity on affordability, and comparing property options across categories.