Photo courtesy of Compass
Residential brokerage Compass has signed a deal to buy Anywhere Real Estate, the parent company of brands like Coldwell Banker and Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate.
If approved by regulators, the all-stock deal would be the largest brokerage brand in the country and have an enterprise value of approximately $10 billion, including the assumption of debt. Morgan Stanley Senior Funding is financing the deal with $750 million in debt, Compass said.
“Today marks a monumental step towards our mission to empower real estate professionals with everything they need to grow their business and better serve their clients,” Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said in a statement. “I have deep respect for Anywhere’s leadership, agents, employees, culture, and brands. By bringing together two of the best companies in our industry, while preserving the unique independence of Anywhere’s leading brands, we now have the resources to build a place where real estate professionals can thrive for decades to come.”
In its announcement, Compass said the transaction will bring together about 340,000 real estate professionals globally onto a “shared network” operating in every major U.S. city and serving approximately 120 countries and territories, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the company had plans to rebadge some or all existing Anywhere subsidiaries like Sotheby’s International Realty as Compass brokerages.
Also, the combined company will “broaden its international referral network and significantly expand” the reach of Compass’ referral network, the Compass announcement said.
Compass has been a vocal advocate in favor of private listings, touting its Compass exclusive properties. Additionally, Reffkin has been a vocal advocate against the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation policy and his company has sued listings portal Zillow over its policy that tries to enforce a ban on private listings on that platform.
Zillow’s policy requires that a listing publicly marketed to some buyers must be entered in a MLS within one business day and published on Zillow as well as other sites that receive MLS feeds. Listings that don’t meet these standards won’t be published on Zillow or Trulia for the life of the listing agreement between that listing broker and seller.
Compass’ legal battle with Zillow echoes a larger divide in the real estate industry over the idea of private listings, one which the merger announced Monday will likely influence.
Around 6 percent of Compass listings currently don’t make it onto an MLS, according to Boston.com.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Compass and Anywhere and is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to approval by both Compass and Anywhere shareholders and federal corporate regulators.
