With the Compass and Anywhere Real Estate’s mega-merger closed months ahead of schedule, the residential industry is now in the wait-and-see phase for the ripple effects from the seismic deal.
The earliest symptom so far is New York City’s publicists, agents and executives tapping the acquisition as a hook to explain their next moves.
Earlier this week, the companies announced that the proposed acquisition, valued at $1.6 billion, had cleared the waiting period for antitrust regulatory review and would likely close by Friday, even though the firms initially said the deal likely wouldn’t be finalized until late 2026. Stockholders voted to approve the merger on Wednesday.
The next morning, an email from a publicist landed in my inbox, flagging the split of one of Compass’ top teams in Bergen County, New Jersey, a move she billed as “particular notable given the timing of the $1.6 billion merger” and the broker’s status as a founding member of the brokerage’s Ridgewood outpost.
“If I was going to make a move, this would be the perfect time to do it,” said Max Stokes, who isn’t leaving Compass, but breaking from his partner Megan Fox to launch his own “small and mighty” team. He called the merger an “inflection point” and said Compass growing bigger was a “great thing” even as he aims to shrink his operation.
Still, some have cited the acquisition among the reasons for their departures from Compass. On Wednesday, just before news of the deal closing broke, a New York City and Westchester agent sent an email announcing her move to Brown Harris Stevens, and in it, she wrote that “the acquisition of Anywhere Brand along with the Zillow Lawsuit news took attention and resources away from agents.”
Compass and Anywhere announced their agreement to merge in September, sending shockwaves through the industry, still reeling from Compass’ earlier $444 million acquisition of @properties and Christie’s International Real Estate.
The proposed deal stipulated that Compass CEO Robert Reffkin would lead the merged companies and that brands would continue to operate independently. On Friday, Reffkin and executives with Anywhere’s subsidiaries, including the Corcoran Group CEO Pam Liebman, presented a united front, posting a graphic with all of the brands’ logos with the tagline “Better Together” on social media.
The news raised questions about how the well-known names would operate under one roof and whether agents in Anywhere’s network would remain with their firms under the Compass umbrella. Since then, many independent brokerages, especially in New York City, have touted the deal as a boon for their businesses.
“Bigger isn’t always better,” Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman told The Real Deal in September. “Not everyone wants a big company.”
But it’s too soon to tell whether that pitch will pan out. In November, Zillow published a report showing that about half of Anywhere agents surveyed by the platform said they would consider leaving if the acquisition made it across the finish line.
However, on further inspection, the results weren’t particularly revelatory — they included responses from just 122 brokers in Anywhere’s 300,000-agent network, according to a Zillow spokesperson, who also said he didn’t have the breakdown of which firms the agents responding belonged to.
The data we do have shows the ebb and flow of top producers among legacy firms is alive and well. including one of Douglas Elliman’s leading Brooklyn brokers, Lindsay Barton Barrett, who on Tuesday brought her team to the brokerage. Last month, Heather Domi, a New York City and South Florida agent and co-founder of the New York Residential Agent Continuum, left Compass to join Elliman.
Not so fast…
New York City’s new development market logged a lackluster year in 2025.
Buyers signed contracts for 2,750 new development properties across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, down 11 percent from the total in 2024, Marketproof data shows. The firm’s CEO Kael Goodman chalked the dip up to inventory, especially in Manhattan and Brooklyn, failing to keep pace with demand — an issue several new development players expect to continue plaguing the market in 2026.
Last year, Manhattan nabbed 1,400 inked deals last year, marking a 12 percent annual decrease, while inventory in the borough fell 13 percent year-over-year. In Brooklyn, contract signings dropped 6 percent to roughly 1,000, while inventory declined 19 percent.
NYC Deal of the Week
The most expensive sale to hit the city rolls this week was for a townhouse at 22 East 78th Street, which closed for roughly $10.5 million. The five-story home, which sold to an anonymous LLC with an address in Washington D.C., last traded in 2015 for $12.6 million.
The townhouse spans 5,500 square feet and has five bedrooms and six bathrooms. It also features a terrace, landscaped garden, chef’s kitchen and five fireplaces.
Compass’ Oliver Han had the listing.
Read more
Compass-Anywhere merger dodges antitrust concerns for speedy closing
Compass, Anywhere’s merger could close this week
Top agent Lindsay Barton Barrett exits Douglas Elliman for Compass