The Barrington Hills Observer

The @properties Christie’s International Real Estate headquarters is seen in Chicago on March 20, 2025. The company was sold to Compass in January. Compass Inc. announced on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Anywhere Real Estate for around $1.6 billion. | Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune

Compass is swallowing @properties, Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and others. Reason to worry.

By The Editorial Board | Chicago Tribune

Rent a car from Avis, Budget or Payless and you are doing business with the same holding company. Same with Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty. Real estate brokerages are going the same way. So when Compass Inc. announced on Monday, the New York Times reported, that it had agreed to acquire Anywhere Real Estate for around $1.6 billion in a deal likely to close in 2026, the amount of competition in the Chicagoland real estate industry was set to shrink exponentially.

Anywhere is the parent company of such familiar local names as Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Jameson Sotheby’s International Real Estate and Corcoran. Meanwhile, Compass now owns @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, itself a product of a purchase.

Such is life, you might say. But close observers of this industry see something beyond the usual push for market share that drives consolidations in all industries. Compass is known for its focus on “exclusive inventory,” meaning homes and apartments that have not yet appeared on the traditional Multiple Listing Service or MLS. Or on Zillow, the free-to-enter online site where many look for homes for sale or to determine the likely selling price of one they already own.

Generally, those homes and apartments do show up on the MLS a week or two later, but that’s if they are not already sold. Especially when the inventory is as low as is the case in Chicago and its suburbs, a savvy buyer of real estate knows that you have to keep a close eye on new listings if you want to beat the competition to an especially desirable home or one that is notably underpriced. The situation is analogous to going to an estate sale. Arrive midmorning and you’ll find dealers took all the good stuff while you still were having breakfast.

This all is great for Compass, since exclusive listings surely will help it attract and retain agents and keep commissions in house. It’s also great for Compass agents, since they can tell potential clients that only if they hire them will they get access to fresh, off-market listings. Snooze until they’re on Zillow, they can say, and you’ll lose.

Read on here.