Senators Urge FTC, DOJ Scrutiny of Compass-Anywhere Merger

Two U.S. Senators are urging antitrust officials to take a close look at the potential merger between Compass and Anywhere Real Estate.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden warned in a letter issued this week to officials at the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission that a deal between the brokerages could limit transparency in the residential housing market and potentially inflate broker fees for homebuyers.

“The combined reach of Compass and Anywhere gives them outsized influence over market practices at a time when the brokerage industry is rapidly consolidating,” the letter states. “The proposed Compass-Anywhere merger could substantially increase market concentration, possibly in violation of federal antitrust laws, and in a way that DOJ and FTC merger guidelines recognize could lead to anticompetitive harm.”

Reuters first reported the letter.

The deal between the companies was announced in September. Compass, the largest brokerage in the country by deal volume, would add Anywhere’s more than 300,000 agents to its over 40,000 agents. The combined brokerage is expected to have an enterprise value of more than $10 billion.

The deal was the largest in what has been a series of increasingly aggressive acquisitions from Compass since 2024, when it announced a $444 million deal for Chicago-based @properties and Christie’s International Real Estate.

The senators also touched on Compass’ growing use of private listings in their letter, citing research from Zillow and Realtor.com that shows off-market listings risk discrimination in the housing market.

“Allowing Compass and Anywhere to merge is likely to significantly expand the use of these private exclusives, posing both antitrust and civil rights concerns,” the lawmakers wrote.

Compass is currently suing Zillow over the platform’s ban on private listings. The senators’ arguments echo those that Zillow has made in court, where it has claimed that Compass’ private listing platform will reduce transparency for homebuyers and sellers.

The senators also raised concerns over how a deal would contribute to a rapidly consolidating industry, pointing to the nearly $2 billion deal between Rocket Companies and Redfin that closed earlier this year. They claimed that Compass’ deal for Anywhere could further stifle competition in the industry and make it more difficult for smaller firms to compete.

Compass had previously said it expects the deal to close in the second half of 2026.