John Burns Real Estate Consulting

What John Burns Real Estate Consulting does

John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC) is a privately held LLC founded in 2001 and headquartered in Irvine, California, providing subscription research and custom advisory services focused on the US housing market. The firm serves publicly traded and large private homebuilders, REITs and institutional investors, lenders, and building products manufacturers, with a publicly cited client roster that includes PulteGroup, Toll Brothers, Meritage Homes, LGI Homes, Century Communities, Shea Homes, M/I Homes, Mattamy, Brookfield Residential, Hines, CoreVest, Masco, Pella, and Knauf.

JBREC's core products are proprietary surveys and indices — including the Burns Affordable Rent Index (BARI), Burns Home Value Index (BHVI), Burns Single-Family Rental Index (BSFRI), Apartment Developer Survey, Kitchen & Bath Market Index, Fix and Flip Index, and Building Products Dealer Survey — covering more than 100 US metropolitan statistical areas. Primary data is collected through a distributed network of regional analyst experts (the firm's PALS program), then combined with secondary market analysis to produce subscription research reports, custom consulting deliverables, executive events, podcasts, and a free weekly newsletter distributed to over 40,000 subscribers.

The firm operates an organic, bootstrapped business model combining recurring enterprise subscription revenue with project-based consulting fees, and monetizes its research assets through co-branded distribution partnerships with national trade associations including the National Rental Home Council, National Apartment Association, National Kitchen & Bath Association, National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, and the Structural Building Components Association. JBREC is privately held, has not raised external funding, and operates with 101-250 employees as it enters its 25th year.

Name

John Burns Real Estate Consulting

Legal name

John Burns Research and Consulting, LLC

Website

https://jbrec.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

John Burns Real Estate Consulting is a privately held, Irvine-based research and advisory firm serving US homebuilders, REITs, lenders, and building-products manufacturers with proprietary housing-market indices, subscription research, and custom consulting across 100+ metropolitan areas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Real Estate Research and Consulting

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB)

Keywords

• Housing market research
• Real estate consulting
• Residential market analysis
• Property research subscriptions
• Housing industry advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Irvine

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Membership Subscriptions: Subscription-based research packages providing analysis delivered via reports and dashboards complemented by customized support and exclusive events. Multiple package tiers covering metro/regional housing, single-family rental, rental communities, building products, and public homebuilders analysis.
2. Custom Consulting Services: Specific contracted engagements to help clients with strategic decisions including real estate consulting for land developers, home builders, multifamily developers and investors; industrial consulting for building products; and consumer/design consulting for financial planning, product strategy, marketing, and sales decisions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

JBREC sells subscription-based research memberships covering US housing market analysis (for-sale residential, single-family rental, rental communities, building products, public homebuilders) and delivers custom consulting engagements to housing industry executives. Offerings include proprietary indices, surveys, forecasts, interactive dashboards via the JBREC Client Platform, webinars, and client-exclusive events.

Product overview

John Burns Research and Consulting (JBREC) operates a multi-package research and consulting platform built around five core research membership tiers — the Metro & Regional Housing Package, Single-Family Rental Package, Rental Communities Package, Building Products Package, and Geographic Overview of the Public Homebuilders Package — supplemented by the New Home Trends Institute subscription, the JBREC Client Platform for interactive dashboards, Proprietary Indices (including Burns Home Value Index, Burns Affordability Index, and Burns Housing Cycle Risk Index), Proprietary Surveys spanning homebuilders to remodelers, and a Forecasts module. These research products are complemented by three consulting service lines (Real Estate Consulting, Industrials Consulting, Consumer and Design Consulting) and content offerings including the New Home Insights Podcast, US Demographics Insights and Strategies Report, white papers, and the Big Shifts Ahead book.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• New Home Trends Institute: A proprietary research offering providing exclusive insight into consumer preferences and pain points for new home design and construction decisions.
• Building Market Intelligence
• New Home Insights Podcast
• Big Shifts Ahead
• Dear Consultant Newsletter
• JBREC Edge Webinars

Products and services

• Metro & Regional Housing Package Comprehensive coverage of residential for-sale housing markets providing local market analysis and forecasts across major MSAs nationwide; a recurring research membership for homebuilders and housing executives.
• Single-Family Rental Package Analysis and forecasts for the scattered-site single-family rental industry, including market fundamentals, rent growth, and institutional ownership tracking for SFR operators and REITs.
• Rental Communities Package Comprehensive rental market analysis examining the interplay of build-to-rent and apartments, including supply, demand, and occupancy indicators for rental housing executives.
• Building Products Package Analysis, proprietary surveys, and forecasts for new construction and repair and remodeling markets, segmented by channel and customer type, for building products manufacturers and suppliers.
• Geographic Overview of the Public Homebuilders Package Analysis comparing publicly-traded homebuilders based on their geographic footprint, ranking performance and forecasting outcomes across MSAs.
• New Home Trends Institute Proprietary research subscription providing exclusive insight into consumer preferences and pain points for new home design and purchasing decisions.
• JBREC Client Platform Client portal providing interactive dashboards and essential tools for data-driven housing market decisions, delivered to research members.
• Real Estate Consulting Custom consulting engagements providing strategic advice for land developers, home builders, multifamily developers, and investors in those projects and companies.
• Industrials Consulting Strategic custom consulting and advisory services across building products and services industries.
• Consumer and Design Consulting Custom consumer and design insights to support financial planning, product strategy, marketing, and sales decisions for housing and consumer-facing clients.
• Proprietary Surveys A family of proprietary surveys providing monthly insights across homebuilders, real estate agents, building product dealers, remodelers, and other housing industry segments; offered to research members.
• Proprietary Indices Proprietary market indices analyzing major metropolitan statistical areas monthly to help decision makers accurately track housing markets, including the Burns Home Value Index, Burns Affordability Index, and Burns Housing Cycle Risk Index; provided to research members.
• Forecasts Data-driven projections for key housing metrics, backed by a proven track record in forecasting new home trends; delivered to research members.
• New Home Insights Podcast The premier podcast delivering insights on the US housing market, featuring expert commentary and industry analysis.
• US Demographics Insights and Strategies Report Quarterly demographics report providing reliable insights and forecasts for housing industry executives.
• Big Shifts Ahead A book by John Burns and Chris Porter clarifying demographic shifts that create opportunities for housing industry participants, distributed via Amazon and Audible in print and audiobook formats.

Named customers14 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• National Rental Home Council (NRHC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with NRHC, the trade association for the 16 million home single-family rental industry, to produce the first national index tracking professionally managed SFR conditions. JBREC conducts quarterly Single-Family Rental Survey in partnership with NRHC.
• National Apartment Association (NAA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNAA is the leading voice for the rental housing industry representing 153 affiliates, over 82,000 members, and 10 million+ rental units globally. Partnership supports JBREC's Apartment Developer and Investor Survey.
• National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with NKBA, representing 10,000+ member companies in the kitchen and bath industry, to produce the Kitchen & Bath Market Index (KBMI). JBREC and NKBA release quarterly Q3 2025 Kitchen & Bath Market Index.
• Structural Building Components Association (SBCA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with SBCA, the only international trade association representing manufacturers of structural building components, to produce the quarterly Structural Building Components Survey (SBCI).
• SOLA Group Inc. / Qualified Remodeler MagazinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with SOLA Group Inc., owner of Qualified Remodeler Magazine, to measure the health of the professional remodeling segment through the US Remodeler Survey (USRI).
• National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with NLBMDA, the recognized voice of the Lumber and Building Material industry to federal legislators and regulatory agencies, to support the Building Products Dealer Survey.
• Executive Council on Construction SupplyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Executive Council on Construction Supply, a private think tank of leading independent construction suppliers, to support building materials industry research.
• KiavicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Kiavi, a tech-enabled lender to residential real estate investors, to produce the quarterly Fix and Flip Survey and Fix and Flip Market Index (FFMI).
• AmazonminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAmazon serves as a distribution channel for the 'Big Shifts Ahead' book co-authored by John Burns and Chris Porter, available in print and audiobook formats.
• AudibleminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAudible distributes the audiobook version of 'Big Shifts Ahead' demographic trends book co-authored by John Burns and Chris Porter.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• CoStar Group: CoStar is the dominant commercial real estate data and analytics platform (apartments, offices, hotels) and is referenced by JBREC as a private-sector data source. While JBREC is residential-focused and a niche independent research firm, CoStar is the closest broad incumbent providing overlapping housing and rental data products.
• Zillow Group: Zillow operates the largest US residential real estate data and consumer-facing platform, including the Zillow Home Value Index. JBREC's Burns Home Value Index competes in a similar analytics category aimed at housing market participants, although Zillow serves consumers and B2B customers at much greater scale.

Direct peers

• RealPage: RealPage provides rental housing data, analytics, and software used by JBREC as an alternative data source for the Burns Apartment Rent Index. Both companies serve the institutional rental housing market with proprietary rent and supply analytics, making RealPage a directly comparable data peer.
• Yardi: Yardi supplies the property-level apartment data that JBREC uses to build the Burns Apartment Rent Index. Yardi is a primary operating system and data provider for the institutional multifamily market, putting it in a directly comparable data/analytics peer position to JBREC's rental research.
• Hanley Wood (Meyers Research): Hanley Wood / Meyers Research is a long-standing housing market research and advisory firm focused on new home sales, builder performance, and consumer trends — directly overlapping with JBREC's Metro & Regional Housing, Public Homebuilders, and New Home Trends Institute products.
• RCLCO Fund Advisors: RCLCO provides real estate advisory, market research, and consulting to developers, investors, and homebuilders. Its consulting and demographic research practice directly competes with JBREC's Real Estate Consulting and Demographics Insights offerings for institutional real estate clients.
• Zelman & Associates: Zelman & Associates is an independent housing research firm specializing in residential construction, mortgage finance, and building products — directly comparable to JBREC's builder, mortgage, and building products research packages.

Emerging players

• T3 Sixty: T3 Sixty is a real estate advisory and research firm serving MLSs, brokerages, and technology vendors. It overlaps with JBREC at the intersection of housing industry advisory and technology benchmarking, though it focuses more on brokerage/MIS infrastructure than residential for-sale housing market analysis.
• Roofstock: Roofstock is an SFR marketplace and analytics provider that serves many of the same institutional single-family rental investors as JBREC's SFR Package. While Roofstock focuses on investment transactions, its underlying SFR market data is a partial alternative to JBREC's BSFRI and Build-to-Rent Index.

Others

• National Association of Home Builders (NAHB): NAHB is the trade association that produces widely cited housing market indices (e.g., HMI, NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index). While not a for-profit research firm, NAHB publishes benchmark housing research that overlaps thematically with JBREC's Metro & Regional Housing and Public Homebuilders analyses.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/jbrec
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCzo3FXASEpTeWQWVlaDTYbQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/johnburnsrealestateconsulting
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/john-burns-real-estate-consulting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about John Burns Real Estate Consulting