Compass CEO trumpets growth — and seller choice 

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin reiterated the brokerage's commitment to seller choice when it comes to private listings and pre-marketing during the company's first-quarter earnings call on May 8. But Reffkin also highlighted a number of positive metrics, including major year-over-year upticks in revenue, transactions and principal agents. 

"I'm pleased to share that in the first quarter, the gap between Compass and the industry continued to widen," Reffkin told investors. Revenue increased by 28.7% year-over-year, while total transactions increased by 27.8%. "This means that Compass' total transaction count outpaced the market by close to 30%," Reffkin said.

Compass also added 700 principal agents in the first three months of the year — one of the company's most successful quarters for this metric, according to Reffkin.

What Compass had to say

Doubling down on pre-marketing — 'there is no downside': Reffkin weighed in on the National Association of Realtors' March update to its Clear Cooperation Policy, which added a companion policy for delayed marketing.

"I don't know a homeowner who would say they want NAR, the MLS or a portal to tell them how they must market their home. Amidst all the negative narratives and the scare tactics, the one thing you aren't going to hear is the voice of the party that is impacted the most here: the homeowner," Reffkin said, adding that the benefits of pre-marketing include price testing, no days on market, no price drops and no "third-party agents that don't know the property."

"The question homeowners ask us is, what is the downside? And so what is the downside? There is no downside," he said.

Nearly half of Compass' 20,000 homeowners who transacted in the first quarter chose to go with the brokerage's 3-phase marketing strategy, starting with a private exclusive, Reffkin told investors. He also expressed his belief and concern that MLSs and home search sites are "raising friction to discourage homeowners" and "using their dominance to discourage sellers" from utilizing strategies to list homes off the MLS.

On Zillow and 'choice versus control': Despite Reffkin's confidence in the brokerage's strategy, investors asked how Zillow's new listing standards — which bar publicly marketed listings not shared via the MLS — could impact Compass listings. "Are you OK with your houses or with inventory not being available on Zillow?" one investor asked.

"This is about choice versus control," Reffkin responded. "Compass stands for homeowner choice, and so homeowners have a choice on how to market their home," he added, suggesting that sellers can opt to use the 3-phase marketing strategy or go straight to the MLS and major home search portals, if they prefer. 

Ultimately, 94% of Compass listings eventually went to the MLS during phase three of the company's marketing strategy, he added.

Key numbers

Revenue: $1.4 billion, up 28.7% year-over-year compared to $1 billion in Q1 of 2024.

Cash and cash equivalents: $127 million, down from $223.8 million in Q4 of 2024. A significant portion of the cash reported at the end of last year ($105 million) went toward the acquisition of Christie's International Real Estate.

Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization): $15.6 million, a year-over-year improvement of $35.7 million.

Net loss: The company reported a net loss of $50.7 million, an improvement from the $132.9 million net loss reported a year ago.

Transactions: Agents closed 49,121 transactions in Q1 of 2025, up 27.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Agent count: 20,656 principal agents at the end of March, up from 14,591 a year ago.

Q2 outlook: For the second quarter, Compass estimates revenue will be between $2 billion and $2.15 billion, while adjusted EBITDA will be between $115 million and $135 million. The company is also predicting that it will be free cash flow positive for the full year of 2025.