Across the US, the ‘New Compass’ is running away with the lead 

Even before Compass closed on its acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate in January, it was the largest residential real estate brokerage in the U.S. by sales volume. And now, as Compass International Holdings, it far outpaces the nearest runner-up.

A new study from the Consumer Policy Center (CPC) takes a closer look at Compass' dominance in five of its top markets, both before and after the Anywhere deal was completed, as well as its share of double-ended or dual agency transactions in those markets. 

Compass' big goal: CEO Robert Reffkin has been very forthcoming about the company's growth goals, outlining his "30/30 Vision" — capturing 30% market share in each of Compass' top 30 markets by 2030 — during an October 2024 earnings call. 

A December 2025 analysis by The Capitol Forum found that, post-merger, Compass would already reach or exceed that market share threshold in several major metros across the U.S., including Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, St. Louis, Houston and Washington, D.C. The 30% mark is meaningful because market shares above that level can run afoul of federal merger guidelines — though in Compass' case, the deal went through without much scrutiny from antitrust regulators. 

The path to market dominance: The CPC study, authored by consumer advocate and Senior Fellow Stephen Brobeck, lays out a number of strategies Compass is using to increase market share. 

M&As have played a big role, of course, with Anywhere being the most notable — but others, including the acquisition of @properties Christie's International Real Estate in late 2024 and regional power players Latter & Blum and Parks Real Estate earlier in the year, have fortified Compass' position in several key markets. Brobeck noted that acquisitions have often focused on luxury firms. 

Another strategy? Increase brand awareness — and then get more consumers in the door. Compass' partnership with Rocket and Redfin serves that goal, Brobeck said, by providing greater listings exposure and access to more buyer leads. 

"The dream of Compass Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin and other Compass leaders appears to be domination of the most profitable local markets through overwhelming numbers of agents and listings that attract and pressure consumers to list and purchase properties through Compass agents," Brobeck wrote in the report. 

A tale of 5 cities: For his analysis, Brobeck zeroed in on five large metro areas that Compass has prioritized for market share growth: Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Austin and Washington, D.C. He looked at 1,000 consecutive home sales in each city that closed in late 2025 or early 2026 to see what share of unit sales was captured by agents with "Old Compass" (those who did not come to the firm via a major acquisition, including @properties and Anywhere), "New Compass" (which included all agents now under the Compass International Holdings banner) and the other most active brokerages in the market, defined as those with at least 3% market share.

• Boston: Old Compass was already the market leader with nearly 15% market share. New Compass more than doubled that — over 32% — with the next-highest share going to Keller Williams at just 4.4%. 

• Chicago: Old Compass claimed 10.7% of sales, while New Compass more than tripled that share at 35%. Baird & Warner, Chicago's largest independent firm, accounted for 8.1%, with KW taking 5.3% and REMAX claiming 4.8%.

• San Diego: Old Compass led with 15.6%, but New Compass controlled nearly 30%. It was followed by eXp (7%), The Real Brokerage (6.6%) and KW (6.4%). 

• Austin: Old Compass had just over 22% market share, which climbed to 29.7% as New Compass. KW, which is based in Austin, was next with 11.6%, trailed by eXp (5.8%) and Moreland (3.4%), the city's leading independent brokerage. 

• Washington, D.C.: Old Compass held an impressive 22% of the market, but New Compass claimed a whopping 39.5%. KW (8.5%) and HomeServices' Long & Foster brand (5.8%) rounded out the top three. 

Double-dipping? Brobeck's report also surfaced deals that were either "double-ended" (DE) — where the listing and buyer agents were in the same brokerage — or "double-dipped," (DD) meaning one agent handled both sides of the transaction (dual agency). 

Compass has said it doesn't push for such deals, with President of Growth Rory Golod telling Real Estate News last year that "it's not something we track; it's not something we encourage." But some in the industry — including leaders from eXp and Windermere — have suggested that the brokerage's push for private inventory is, in fact, a "scheme" to keep more deals in-house. 

Brobeck also pointed to documents from Compass' lawsuit against Zillow over listing standards as evidence of the firm's interest in double-ending transactions — specifically, one slide unveiled during discovery that stated, "Pre-marketing results in a consistently higher percentage of [transactions] where Compass is on both sides."

To evaluate DE/DD transactions, Brobeck looked at brokerages "with at least 40 sales" that fell into that bucket out of the 1,000 sales collected in each of the five cities. "New Compass" was not included in the analysis.

In all but one of the five cities, "Old Compass" led other firms in the share of combined DE/DD sales, with 20-42% of Compass sales falling into that category (San Diego was the exception; eXp and KW had slightly higher shares of such sales in that market). 

When narrowing the data to only double-dipped sales as a percentage of all DE/DD sales, Compass had the highest share in just two markets: Boston and Austin.

What Compass had to say: A spokesperson for Compass said the brokerage "disputes the claims and methodology" of the report, noting that "the figures cited in the Consumer Policy Center report do not reflect the full scope of our business and appear to rely on a partial dataset." 

In addressing any inference that the brokerage pursues double-ended deals for its own gain, the spokesperson emphasized that "our real estate professionals are expected to act in their clients' best interests, regardless of which brokerage or agent has written an offer on the property."

Note: This story has been updated to include additional comment from Compass.