Building from the momentum created in its international markets during the third quarter of 2021, Keller Williams is growing its presence in South America with the launch of a new master franchise in São Paulo, Brazil in Q1 2022.

“In the midst of a rapidly shifting global market due to COVID-19, our global regions continue to make monumental gains and our pipeline of new regions continues to be robust,” Keller Williams Worldwide President William E. Soteroff said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. “Across South America alone, we currently stand strong with 17 market centers and close to 1,000 agents collectively in the seven existing regions.”

“We are excited now to announce our eighth region in South America and welcome José Federighi of São Paulo, Brazil, along with his amazing leaders and core group to our worldwide family,” he added.

Federighi has more than 35 years of experience leading some of Brazil’s preeminent real estate companies in senior leadership and executive-level roles. Most recently, Federighi led Brazil Brokers São Paulo and served on the Board of Brasil Brokers.

“There is no company that focuses on agents like Keller Williams,” he said in a written statement. “KW puts the focus on agents and develops brilliant training, models, systems and technology.”

“When you develop training and technology for agents, you change the ecosystem,” he added. “In Brazil, no other real estate company is doing this. It’s a real opportunity to change the market.”

Despite travel and immigration restrictions, Keller Williams’ international operations have steadily grown throughout the pandemic, with the franchisor launching master franchises in Slovenia, Thailand, Uruguay, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Suriname, Paraguay, Serbia, Honduras, and Turks and Caicos.

In Q3 2021, Keller Williams Worldwide outpaced Keller Williams’s North American operations. While agents in Canada and the U.S. saw their annual transaction volume (-0.8 percent), new listings (-1.8 percent) and new contracts (-3.5 percent) slip, agents in KWW regions experienced their best year yet with transactions and sales volume increasing 36.3 percent and 74.5 percent year-over-year, respectively.

“We’re excited to report more exponential growth across the globe,” Soteroff said in a public statement previous to Keller Williams‘ Q3 earnings call in November. “As agents across our more than 50 worldwide regions continue to expand their market share, they’re funding bigger lives for their families.”

“And we will continue to underpin their important efforts in service of their clients through our best-in-class training, coaching, services and technology,” he added.

The massive real estate franchisor now has 285 market centers across 50 regions representing more than 14,000 agents.

Email Marian McPherson