When Compass announced this week that it struck a partnership with Rocket Companies to display its Private Exclusives on Redfin, the mega-brokerage made a potentially industry-changing strike in its war with organized real estate.
For at least three years, Redfin will host listings that are within Compass’ three-phased marketing process. The portal will prominently display the listings, which won’t accrue days on market or price change history. And Redfin will send buyer leads directly to Compass listing agents. Compass’ “Coming Soon” listings will show up immediately on Redfin, with “Private Exclusive” properties following later.
The move took direct aim at two of Compass’ foes: the multiple listing services that enforce policies Compass sees as restrictive to agents, and Zillow, the leading search portal that enacted its own rules that sought to limit Compass’ preferred marketing approach.
It also set the industry up for an existential moment, one that will likely lead to a ripple effect of competing brokerages mapping out their own path forward, and which threatens the future of the MLS itself, industry experts told Inman.
“[Compass CEO Robert] Reffkin is drawing his line in the sand. He’s lining up his arsenal and he’s saying, ‘Get with the program or we’re pulling out. Get with us or you’re against us,’” ACME Real Estate CEO Courtney Poulos told Inman. “It really seems like war.”
The partnership is particularly significant for the MLS itself, Poulos said.
“Welcome to the beginning of the end of MLS. This is it. This is what it looks like,” Poulos said. “They’re making a deal around the MLS.”
Compass had long been critical of certain industry rules, including the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy — a policy requiring agents to put listings into the MLS within a day that marketing begins. At the same time, the brokerage has worked to build a broad network of listings that were only available to consumers through Compass agents.
Over time, that network became a competitive threat to other brokerages, with some subsequently rolling out their own exclusive listing networks.
But the proliferation of those networks also posed a threat to Zillow, which relies on the listings to attract consumers, generate leads and earn revenue. As a result, last April the portal announced it would ban any listing that was publicly marketed for more than a day without being entered into the MLS.
Robert Reffkin at Inman Connect New York 2026. Credit: AJ Canaria Creative Services
Redfin quickly announced that it would enact and enforce a similar policy. But it later decided to pause its ban indefinitely, citing a change of heart after it was acquired by Rocket Companies.
After Zillow moved forward with its ban, Compass sued the portal in an effort to stop it from enforcing its rule, though an early ruling in the case showed that Compass faces a steep hill in the legal fight.
Some MLSs, meanwhile, have their own rules, regulations and potential fines that also restrict Compass agents from marketing properties in a way that the brokerage prefers.
With its new partnership, however, Compass effectively undercut Zillow and the MLSs by securing a way to publicly market its exclusive listings to tens of millions of visitors each month.
“It’s uncertain what Zillow is going to do, but one would think they have to do something here and not just let this play out,” industry veteran Russ Cofano told Inman. “If they let it play out, and it’s successful for Compass, they may win their lawsuit, which is the battle, but lose the war.”
After acquiring Anywhere Real Estate, Compass effectively created a behemoth of about 340,000 agents who handle a significant share of all real estate listings. That merger — which still faces scrutiny from lawmakers and closed months faster than expected — allowed Compass to move forward with the Rocket partnership, Cofano argued.
“None of this would have been possible without the Compass-Anywhere merger,” Cofano said. “As we see in other industries, where there is scale and market power, in this case market power over listings, it’s clearly the key asset and can reform an industry.”
Whether and how the industry might change in response to the partnership will become clear in the near future.
“I know that Zillow’s clearly going to figure out what the response is here. I’m sure big brokerage companies are going to evaluate what their play is here, because they’ve got a recruiting issue against Compass,” Cofano said. “If I was a large MLS, I would be having war room discussions about what our model is going forward in a worst case scenario.”
Cofano said he expects brokerages and competing portals to have conversations about potential partnerships of their own.
Asked about the situation, Zillow said in a statement to Inman that it is the most comprehensive platform available. The portal also said that it was focused on “executing our strategy, investing in innovation, and delivering long-term value” to the industry.
“In a housing market already facing significant affordability challenges, approaches that limit broad listing visibility reduce transparency, constrain resale inventory access and fragment the marketplace,” the statement continued. “Broad access to real estate information has consistently been foundational to a healthy, competitive housing market that serves buyers, sellers and all agents.”
Aside from the portals and MLSs, some experts also suggested the Compass-Rocket deal could have implications for real estate governance — particularly at a moment when NAR has stepped away somewhat from its role as an industry rule-maker.
“The consolidation occurring in the industry, creating these megabrokers or big powerful players, they’re going to dictate the rules going forward,” real estate strategist Mike DelPrete told Inman. “Anywhere and Compass combining doesn’t just mean they have a lot of agents and listings. They’re going to be the ones dictating the rules and the state of play.”
“NAR cannot get out of this by just dumping everything onto the MLS, because the reality is the MLSs will not exist if they don’t start accommodating the real needs of the agent community,” Poulos said. “We would rather create something that we understand.”
Regardless, the deal is likely to set off a ripple effect of change, the experts agreed.
“They clearly are going to cause a set of reactions to this latest move,” Cofano said. “People are not going to sit on their hands.”
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