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Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →The company behind the REMAX brand changed hands this week. The merger of the technology-led brokerage Real with REMAX Holdings, valued at about US$880 million, was completed on Monday 24 August 2026 in the United States, early on Tuesday 25 August in Australia, according to reports published by Elite Agent on 25 August and Real Estate Business on 26 August. The combined company is called Real REMAX Group.
For Queensland, where REMAX offices operate from Cairns and Mackay to the south-east, the local message is that nothing visible changes. REMAX Australia's managing director, Joel Davoren, told both publications that the brand, the franchise structure and the independence of each office stay as they are.
Sources: Elite Agent, 25 August 2026; Real Estate Business, 26 August 2026. Global figures; no Australian office count was published.
What was completed
The deal moved quickly. Real Estate Business reports that it closed less than four months after the two companies announced their plans, and one week after their security holders approved it. When Elite Agent's industry newsletter first reported the merger at the start of May, completion was expected late in 2026. It has arrived several months ahead of that.
The new parent, Real REMAX Group, was formerly REMAX Holdings. Elite Agent puts the combined network at more than 145,000 agents across more than 120 countries and territories. The stated logic is to join Real's brokerage platform, which the company describes as powered by artificial intelligence, to a franchise brand that is more than half a century old.
The sequence over the past fortnight was short. Real Estate Business reported on 18 August that security holders of both companies had approved the transaction and that formal completion was expected within weeks. It followed six days later. At that stage Mr Davoren said the Australian network's brand, identity, franchise network and entrepreneurial culture would remain at its heart.
Related readHow an agency is chosen: what a Queensland seller can check firstThe group's co-founder and chief executive, Tamir Poleg, said the intention was to strengthen the REMAX brand and not to disrupt it, according to Real Estate Business. The two brands will keep separate identities.
What REMAX Australia says stays the same
Mr Davoren's position has been consistent since the merger was first reported. In May he described REMAX Australia as "a fairly autonomous independent group within the REMAX global network". This week he repeated the point in terms an office owner could put on the wall.
"REMAX remains REMAX, our independently owned franchises remain the same," he said in the statement carried by both publications.
Elite Agent lists what that covers: the REMAX name, the balloon logo, the model under which each office is owned by its broker-owner, the support the Australian head office gives its members, and the local franchise arrangement. Neither report describes any change to fees, territories or agreements for Australian offices.
| Item | After the merger |
|---|---|
| Global parent company | Now Real REMAX Group |
| Brand name and logo | Unchanged |
| Ownership of each office | Unchanged: independently owned franchises |
| Australian head office support | Unchanged, according to REMAX Australia |
| Technology | Real's platform to be made available over time |
Sources: Elite Agent, 3 May and 25 August 2026; Real Estate Business, 26 August 2026.
Where REMAX is active in Queensland
Neither report gives the number of REMAX offices in Queensland or in Australia. The trade press does, however, record a run of activity in the state this year.
In April, Elite Agent reported that two Cairns agencies had merged to form REMAX Powerhouse, bringing a boutique firm together with an existing REMAX office. In May, the network gathered more than 40 of its highest-earning agents in Brisbane for a professional development summit. In July, Real Estate Business reported that REMAX Select in Mackay had appointed a general manager, in a regional market the same report said had risen by more than 20 per cent in 12 months.
Related readCo-operative, flat fee or franchise: networks court local agenciesThe Cairns merger shows how the Australian network has been growing. According to Elite Agent's report of 13 April, the owners of a boutique agency, Powerhouse Property, combined their business with REMAX Real Estate Services at a single office in the suburb of Manunda. One of the boutique firm's owners said the attraction was continuing to offer individual service while being supported in future growth. Mr Davoren said at the time that the incoming team was focused on client outcomes and not just transactions.
Each of those businesses is separately owned. What they share is a franchise agreement with the Australian network and, through it, the right to use a brand whose ultimate owner has just changed.
How a global sale reaches a local franchise
A change of owner at the top of a franchise system passes through several layers before it reaches a shopfront in Cairns, and at each layer there is a contract.
The global company owns the brand. In a system of this kind, a national business typically holds the right to use and sub-license that brand in its own country. Each office then holds a franchise agreement with the national business. The office's obligations, its fees and its territory are set by that agreement, not by who owns the shares of the parent.
Australian law gives the agreement weight. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's guidance on the Franchising Code of Conduct says that once an agreement is signed, the franchisor usually cannot change it. The Code also requires the parties to act in good faith towards each other, and it obliges franchisors to publish information about their systems on the public Franchise Disclosure Register. A new parent company inherits those arrangements as they stand.
Related readFranchise, co-operative or independent: how agencies are structuredA franchise agreement survives a change of owner above it
Under the Franchising Code of Conduct, a franchisor generally cannot alter a signed agreement on its own. An office's fees, territory and term are those in its existing agreement until it expires or both sides agree to vary it.
Changes, where they come, tend to arrive at renewal or by invitation. A new technology platform, for example, is usually offered to offices, and the terms on which it is offered are a matter for the national business and its members.
What the licence and the trust account look like after a merger
For a client, the parts of an agency that matter most are untouched by a transaction of this kind, because they never belonged to the brand.
The licence to act as a real estate agent in Queensland is issued by the Office of Fair Trading to the person or company that runs each office. The Office's public register lists that licensed name, its place of business and whether the licence is current. A REMAX office's entry on the register is the same today as it was a week ago.
Trust money is held the same way. Deposits and rents sit in a trust account opened by the office's principal licensee under the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014. The franchisor has no access to it, and neither does the franchisor's parent.
Appointments are also made with the office. A seller who signed a Form 6 with a REMAX office in July has an agreement with that licensed business. It continues on the same terms and for the same period.
Why the technology is the part to watch
The one area where both sides describe something new is technology. Elite Agent's report in May said the merger would bring Real's platform to the REMAX Australia network while the brand's identity was kept. This week's report describes the combination as joining an AI-powered brokerage platform to an established franchise network.
Related readNoosa, Currumbin, Redcliffe: three networks open offices in one weekFor offices, that could mean new software for managing transactions, commissions and marketing. Whether Australian offices adopt it, on what timetable and at what cost has not been published. Mr Davoren has framed the Australian network's job as choosing systems and services that benefit its members, which implies a decision made locally.
For the agents who work in those offices, as distinct from the owners, the effect is more distant still. An agent's commission split, employment or contractor terms and day-to-day systems are set by the office that engages them. A change in the global parent alters none of those directly, and any new tools would reach agents through their own principal.
Any platform that handles Queensland transactions also has to fit Queensland's rules. Appointment forms are prescribed, trust accounting follows the state Act, and since 1 July agencies that sell property have had identity-checking duties under the federal anti-money-laundering law. Software designed for another country's market is typically adapted before it is used here.
What comes next
The merger is complete, so there is no further approval to wait for. The next steps are inside the business: how the two brands are organised under one parent, and what is offered to franchise networks outside North America.
For Queensland's REMAX offices, the practical calendar is their own. Each has a franchise agreement with a term and a renewal date, and each will weigh the network's offering against the alternatives when that date arrives, as offices in every franchise group do. Sellers, buyers and landlords dealing with those offices have nothing to do.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
