Compass-Anywhere integration forces retailers to adjust competitive playbooks

New York City

Bess Freedman and her company Brown Harris Stevens they can’t compete with both Compass, headquartered in New York City, and top firms anywhere, including The Corcoran again Sotheby’s International Realty. While Freedman acknowledges all the hype surrounding mergers, he feels that transactions are the main challenge for acquired companies. It is against this backdrop that the focus will be on bringing brands and Anywhere agents into the Compass organization, where they feel established and privately held firms like him will be able to stand out.

“Instead of offering the same, BHS can offer agents, buyers, sellers and tenants something different: We are exclusively focused on customer service and our partners are only our agents. In NYC, we are the only company that manages nearly 400 properties and offers a special program for buyers. Real estate is a business of knowledge and service, and the synergy between our trusted BHS properties and BHS re-managed properties,” Freedman wrote by email.

Freedman’s confidence in his company comes despite estimates that after the merger, Compass’ market share in Brooklyn could reach more than 60% and more than 80% in Manhattan. But after a strong 2025, when Freedman said his company hired agents for nearly $20 billion in sales, he believes 2026 has the potential to be just as strong, no matter what his competitors do.

“We continue to speak with agents from competing firms in multiple markets who want to diversify their businesses with the support of Brown Harris Stevens,” he wrote.

And Brown Harris Stevens isn’t the only firm in New York City feeling strong about its growth and hiring efforts this year.

“With this massive merger, we’re getting unprecedented interest from agents who want stability and independence,” a Douglas Elliman the spokesperson wrote in an email. “More than ever before, Douglas Elliman is the world’s leading agent-focused business, truly independent, financially strong and dedicated to empowering them and their success.”

in Boston

Further north on the east coast in the Greater Boston area, Chip Stella, one of the owners of the Wellesley, Massachusetts-based broker. Rutledge Propertiesthe roughly 20-agent, one-office, luxury-focused firm is also feeling confident despite now facing the impressive power of Anywhere and Compass combined.

Stella and her team lean heavily on their firm’s small, retail space, running an advertising campaign that says Rutledge Properties answers to Main Street, not Wall Street.

“The campaign was very popular,” said Stella. “I think our consumers in Greater Boston understand that they are better served by companies that cater to Main Street and don’t have to answer to shareholders. Our tag line is ‘Boutique is Better’ and that doesn’t just mean a small company, it’s the kind of service we provide to consumers.”

Noting that his company made approximately 300 million rands last year, he feels that this message resonates with consumers, and believes that it will continue to drive his company’s success in the coming year.

“As a retail company, we are very fast, we work hard,” he said. “We can help customers in the best way that we see fit because we work with them as a team, and that gets better results.”

Stella’s confidence remains strong despite estimates that Compass will have more than 60% market share in Boston after the merger.

Looking at the bigger picture, Stella wonders how the consolidation of many of its competitors in the Greater Boston area will affect innovation.

“Competition is what drives innovation. So, having such a large market share here, does that drive innovation? And I think the answer is probably no.”

Nashville

Music City’s one-metro analyst firm Capitol Forum estimates that a combined Compass and Anywhere will have a nearly 70% market share.

Phillip Cantrell, founder of the Tennessee-based Benchmark Realtywell aware that this merger will give Compass in Nashville, telling HousingWire that he sees the deal in the same way as the efforts of historical business magnates such as Rockefeller, Carnegie and Gould, as an attempt to increase market share “so that we can capture the old-school dominance in its purest form.”

However, unlike other business executives of the past, Cantrell said he feels that Robert Reffkin is taking the effort seriously, “as opposed to the cynical methods used by his predecessors in the late 1800s and early 1900s.”

“I’m sure [Robert] he’s well aware of the pitfalls, but like me, he refuses to panic for fear of challenging the prevailing culture,” Cantrell wrote in an email. It took him a while to find his footing, but I believe he now knows what he’s doing.”

When it comes to competing with the combined Compass-Anywhere, Cantrell doesn’t really see much of a competition since, in his opinion, the two companies run “completely different business models.”

He also noted that Benchmark Realty is no stranger to competing with Anywhere’s products, as it has well-established operations in many of the markets in which his company operates.

“We grow stronger because we have the right competitors. This is one reason this industry suffers so much – the lack of the right competitors. If everyone does business the same way, no one improves the consumer’s transaction,” he wrote.

“Honestly, we don’t know much about the shiny things here. But if you want to be under a company that includes solid business professionals – meat and potatoes, not filet mignon for every meal – Benchmark is the place to have the right tools and save 96% or more of your money.”

He also added that his company has recorded a 14% annual increase in transaction volume by 2025, a metric he hopes will continue to grow in 2026, regardless of what his competitors do.

Austin

In Austin, Compass and Anywhere are expected to have a combined market share of more than 50%, but even in Texas, Kinan Beck, senior salesman and team leader. eXp Realty brokered One Source Teamsays, “Bigger is not always better.”

“While consolidation can create scale, it does not automatically translate into a better client experience,” Beck wrote in an email.

Beck acknowledged that his company, eXp, has more than 80,000 employees in nearly 30 countries.

“Size alone is not a new concept in our industry,” Beck wrote. “At its core, real estate is always a relationship business. The most successful and experienced agents build trust and long-term relationships before, during and after the purchase. It’s those relationships that ultimately drive repeat business and referrals – not a brand name.”

According to Beck, in the end, when it comes time for a buyer to decide which agent to work with, what matters most is their professionalism, communication, negotiation skills and ability to produce results, not which company they trade with.

“I plan to compete by continuing to focus on strong customer relationships, effective technology and AI tools to enhance, not replace, the client’s experience, and stay nimble in an increasingly competitive market. With today’s access to sophisticated marketing platforms and software, small and independent brokerages can deliver effective marketing just like large firms,” ​​he said. “The real difference is the ability to go above and beyond, bringing extraordinary resources and guidance to every stage of the process.”

San Francisco

On the West Coast, an analysis by The Capitol Forum indicated that the combined Compass-Anywhere would have an estimated 65% market share. Like other brokers across the country, Shalini Sadda, who works with the broker Side– brokered City Real Estatehe believes he has what it takes to compete with the colossus of the combined industry.

“When clients want to hire an agent, they don’t always want to work with a big company, they want an agent who is their strong advocate. “They want quality service that meets their specific needs and not mass-produced marketing. My business was also based on relationships and not just work.”

Sadda said he sees clients as long-term relationships, a fact emphasized by his repeat customer and referral-focused business. He said this emphasis on local relations is one of the things that made him join a local shopping company.

“We live in San Francisco, we’re really in tune with the market and what’s going on in the area,” he said. “Our knowledge comes from actual experience of living and working in the areas we serve.”

And he believes that small firms, like City Real Estate, can change or adjust to market changes quickly because they don’t have to wait for direction to come down from corporate headquarters.

“We are very busy and keep up with trends so we can inform customers and help them make decisions based on the latest information and statistics,” he said.

It is this local knowledge and commitment to customers that Sadda and consumers across the country believe will give them an edge over the larger Compass-Anywhere company.