The standard for Climate Risk Financial Modeling now connects physical exposure to earnings,
credit, and valuation for institutional investors.

NEW YORK, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As physical climate risk continues to shape investment decisions, investment teams still lack consistent, actionable data to translate that risk into financial terms. To meet this need, First Street has formally expanded its climate risk coverage beyond real estate to include companies and complex infrastructure assets, giving investors a more complete view of how physical exposure affects earnings, credit, and valuations across markets.

Founded nearly a decade ago as a research nonprofit, First Street has built a global foundation in property-level climate risk modeling, with coverage spanning billions of buildings worldwide. Its peer-reviewed, proprietary models quantify the likelihood and severity of hazards such as floods, wildfires, and extreme temperatures, translating physical exposure into estimates of damage, downtime, and financial loss.

Building on this foundation, First Street has developed two new modules that extend Climate Risk Financial Modeling across corporate balance sheets and infrastructure portfolios:

The Company Module connects physical climate risk to financial outcomes across corporate footprints and supply chains to earnings, credit, and valuation. It quantifies how disruptions at specific sites, suppliers, and infrastructure nodes flow through to company performance, helping equity and credit analysts assess when physical risk becomes material to the P&L.

The Complex Assets Module extends analysis beyond individual properties to infrastructure systems and large-scale sites, including transportation networks, data centers, energy systems, and industrial campuses. It captures exposure across entire routes and parcels, identifying the specific segments or sub-assets that drive vulnerability, and giving infrastructure investors, lenders, and operators the asset-level detail needed for more targeted capital planning and resilience investment.

Together, these modules close a structural gap in how institutional investors evaluate physical risk. Exposure at the property level can affect infrastructure performance, disrupt supply chains, and ultimately influence big-picture financial outcomes. Evaluating these interdependencies within a consistent framework lets asset owners, asset managers, and other financial institutions price physical risk across due diligence, underwriting, and capital allocation.

“Earth Day increasingly reflects how climate risk is being integrated into financial decisions across the system,” said Matthew Eby, CEO and Founder of First Street. “Our expansion into companies and infrastructure builds on our foundation in real estate and aligns with how risk actually moves, from individual assets through to financial performance.”

First Street’s data and analytics are used by institutional investors, corporations, and financial institutions to identify exposure, assess financial materiality, and integrate physical climate risk into investment strategy and operations.

Complete coverage of these asset types is available to investors, financial institutions, governments, and corporations in the First Street Enterprise Suite. To learn more, visit firststreet.org.

About First Street:
At First Street, we are on a mission to connect climate and financial risk. For nearly a decade, our scientists have created transparent, peer-reviewed physical climate risk models that quantify the financial impacts of perils such as flooding, wildfire, and extreme wind events for every property in the world. In December 2024, we launched the First Street Enterprise Suite, a global software platform that transforms our models into actionable financial signals for decision-makers worldwide. First Street is the standard for Climate Risk Financial Modeling, empowering asset owners, asset managers, governments, real estate investors, corporations, and millions of homebuyers every day to make climate informed decisions.

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SOURCE First Street Technology, Inc.

New data released from Recruiting Insight and Lone Wolf Technologies shows agent mobility accelerating, internal retention strengthening, and brokerage execution as key factor in supporting sustainable growth

SEATTLE, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Recruiting Insight, in collaboration with Lone Wolf Technologies and MyBFF Social, today released its Q1 2026 Agent Migration and Brokerage Model Performance Report, revealing a sharp rise in agent mobility and a clear message for brokerage leaders: recruiting success now depends on execution, not model label. Based on nearly 98,000 samples across key U.S. corridors, the report found that external agent move activity increased 25% quarter over quarter and 7% year over year, while moving agents carried $16.0 billion in annualized production.

“Recruiting Heats Up as Q1 Agent Moves Jump 25%”

“The wait-and-see market is over,” said Mark D. Johnson, MBA, Managing Partner at Recruiting Insight. “The brokerages gaining traction now are the ones with a strong value proposition, a disciplined recruiting process, and the ability to speak directly to what productive agents actually want.” The report shows that mid-tier producers are driving much of the movement, creating a more competitive environment for firms looking to recruit and retain top talent.

One of the report’s most important findings is that the brokerage model alone does not determine performance. Across traditional, value, virtual, and hybrid brands, the market is split between winners and losers in every category, proving that execution matters more than the label on the sign. The report’s Efficiency Ratio (ER) shows that top-performing firms across all model types are gaining more than $2.00 in incoming production for every $1.00 lost, while weaker firms have fallen to an ER of 0.69.

Key findings from the Q1 2026 report include:

1. The Consolidation Playbook: Internal Moves Surge 38% YoY

While external moves surged 25.0%, internal office-to-office transfers grew by 38% year-over-year.

The CEO Takeaway: Internal movers produce an average of $5.47M—a 28% quality premium over external recruits ($4.27M). It is significantly more profitable to retain a high-performer within your ecosystem than to “buy” one from the street. Protecting your existing producers during office mergers or brand shifts is your highest-ROI growth engine.

2. The Execution vs. Model Verdict

The debate over brokerage models is producing the wrong question. Success does not map to model type (Traditional vs. Virtual vs. Flat-Fee). The data shows thriving and struggling firms in every single category.

The CEO Takeaway: There is no “silver bullet” business model. The differentiator is the Efficiency Ratio. Winners maintain an ER above 2.0 (gaining $2.00 for every $1.00 lost), while losers have collapsed to 0.69. Success is a result of operational excellence and recruiting quality, not just your compensation structure.

3. The Productivity Rollercoaster

Only 20% of agents produce consistently quarter-over-quarter. The remaining 80% cycle in and out of production—closing deals one quarter and becoming “invisible” the next. In fact, 1 in 3 agents active in Q1 had zero production the prior quarter.

The CEO Takeaway: Headcount is a vanity metric; consistency is a sanity metric. Recruiting primarily for volume risks bloating overhead with low-activity agents. The most resilient brokerages are those that focus their value proposition on the “Productive Core”—the 1-in-5 professionals who drive the market regardless of the cycle.

“The market is telling brokerages to stop recruiting by instinct and start recruiting by diagnosis,” Johnson said. “If too many departures are disappearing into the independent pool, that’s not just a recruiting issue — it’s a value proposition issue.”

The data also makes clear that the real recruiting market is smaller and more concentrated than many firms assume. Only 1 in 5 agents produce consistently quarter over quarter — what Recruiting Insight calls the Productive Core — while the other 80% cycle in and out of production. That means brokerages focusing on headcount alone are chasing volume, not value, while the smartest firms are targeting the smaller pool of agents that actually moves the business forward.

The report also points to a major retention opportunity inside brokerages themselves. Internal office-to-office moves were up 38% year over year, and those internal movers outproduced external recruits by 28%, averaging $5.47 million in annualized volume. “That’s a critical signal,” said Ben Hess, Managing Partner at Recruiting Insight. “Strong recruiting is not just about bringing agents in. It’s about keeping high performers inside your ecosystem when the market shifts.”

Additional Insights:

The Value Proposition Audit (The “Independent Black Hole”)

In 9 of 12 brokerage personas, over 30% of departing agents are bypassing competitors to go independent. In some models, this “Independent Black Hole” leakage hits 73%.

Strategic Red Flag: This is a clear signal that agents are re-thinking the value a brand brings versus the cost of affiliation. If agents are choosing to go it alone, it is an invitation to audit your “Return on Affiliation.” Are your tools and leads providing a measurable ROI, or are they viewed as an unnecessary tax?

The Succession Mandate

With 44% of NAR members over age 60, succession planning is no longer optional; it is a structural mandate.

Strategic Opportunity: Recent case studies show that structured internal exits can retain massive volume—such as a Southeast boutique that saved $47M in annual volume by converting potential retirees into structured internal transitions rather than losing them to the market.

The Bottom Line: The 2026 mandate is a shift from Quantity to Quality. To lead, brokerages must plug the “Independent Leakage” by sharpening their internal value proposition and prioritizing the retention of their high-margin, $5.4M+ internal producers.

The full Q1 2026 Agent Migration and Brokerage Model Performance Report is now available via RecruitingInsight.net.Join the live webinar on April 28 at 2 p.m. (ET) to uncover shifting market activity, current revenue trends, and how to spot patterns early, so you can turn them into better recruiting, stronger retention, and real growth.

Brokerage leaders interested in strengthening recruiting strategy, improving retention, and using data to drive growth are encouraged to contact Recruiting Insight and Lone Wolf Technologies to learn more.

About Recruiting Insight: www.recruitinginsight.net is a data-driven talent acquisition consultancy for the real estate industry. Combining deep industry knowledge with proprietary research, the firm equips brokerages to recruit and retain top talent in a competitive market. Recruiting Insight helps brokerages navigate this challenge with precision recruiting, real-time market insights, and customized strategies aligned with today’s agent priorities.

About Lone Wolf Technologies: https://www.lwolf.com/ is the North American leader in residential real estate software, serving over 1.5 million real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S. The company offers an ecosystem of technology products designed to simplify the entire transaction process, from lead to closing. Lone Wolf’s solutions empower brokers, agents, and MLSs/associations to operate more efficiently, reduce risk, and increase profitability. Lone Wolf is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About MyBFF Social: http://www.mybffsocial.com provides strategic marketing, advertising, communications, and social media support for real estate, franchise, home services, PE, finance, and growth-focused brands.

Media Contact

Mark Johnson, Recruiting Insight, 1 (425) 488-3100, markj@recruitinginsight.net, www.recruitinginsight.net

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SOURCE Recruiting Insight

BEIJING, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The content of the 2026 Beijing Art Season was unveiled this week at Beijing’s 798 Art District. Running from May 21 to June 15, the festival will feature over 400 events, drawing hundreds of art institutions from roughly 20 countries.

Themed “Art Gathers in Beijing, Harmony Embraces All,” the Art Season aims to bring together artistic resources from China and abroad, creating a platform where different regions, media and artistic ideas can meet through exhibitions, forums and other cultural events.

At the center of the festivities are two powerhouse events-Gallery Weekend Beijing and Beijing Dangdai Art Fair, while also linking art districts, museums, and galleries across the city. Participants from nearly 20 countries and hundreds of art institutions are expected to take part, with more than 400 events planned. Actress Zhu Zhu is appointed Ambassador of the 2026 Beijing Art Season

2026 Beijing Art Season will introduce, for the first time, a structure connecting the primary gallery market with the secondary auction market, a move intended to strengthen the path from artistic cultivation to market circulation and support the continued development of Beijing’s art ecosystem. The Art Season is expected to generate an industry worth hundreds of millions of yuan and attract over 5 million participants.

For the first time, Beijing Art Season will extend across six districts of Beijing, combining exhibitions, art transactions, public education programs, city walks and consumer activities into a broader urban cultural festival.  Digital artworks will be on display at various commercial led throughout Beijing, bringing art beyond traditional venues and into everyday life.

The program will also connect with museums and more than 500 partner businesses across Beijing. Through NFC-enabled ticketing, visitors will be able to move between different scenes, with customized subsidy aimed at boosting consumption in tourism, dining and retail.

As 2026 marks the China-Brazil Year of Culture, the season will feature exhibitions and exchange programs centered on Brazilian culture. It will also include a children’s painting exhibition developed in collaboration with UNESCO, focusing on ecological awareness and intergenerational dialogue, alongside programming from international cultural institutions including the Instituto Cervantes Beijing, the Danish Cultural Center, the Korean Cultural Center and the Goethe-Institut.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2966171/image1.jpg

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