After years of seeing it along the horizon, real estate industry consolidation finally made landfall in 2025, with the Rocket-Redfin and Compass-Anywhere mergers sending shockwaves through the industry. The deals immediately sparked questions about who’d merge next, who’d now call the shots and which industry players would find themselves bashed against the craggy shores or lifted by the tide to new heights.
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EXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja, REMAX Holdings CEO Erik Carlson and Douglas Elliman CEO Michael Liebowitz attempted to answer these questions on Tuesday, as hundreds of attendees filled the seats in front of the Inman Connect New York main stage.
Leo Pareja
“One thing I always point to is history,” Pareja said. “Industries can go decades, even hundreds of years, fragmented. But if you do look, we have a pattern in this country. And all of you that have some grey [hairs], like I do… we grew up with a lot more airlines in this country. You remember that? And now we have United, Delta and American.”
“We have basically three health insurance providers. So directionally, that’s what tends to happen,” he added. “And so I can’t make any predictions, but what I can say is if we look at historic patterns, consolidation, we get some more consolidation. And so is that good or bad? That’s yet to be determined.”
The real estate industry has potentially entered its airline moment, with Compass-Anywhere merging under the banner of Compass International Holdings on Jan. 7. The merger’s completion has bound leaders, agents and other industry players with a nervous thread, as everyone wonders exactly how Robert Reffkin will leverage the deal.
“I think congratulations. Make the move,” Liebowitz quipped, while leaning into the side of his chair. “I always wish everybody well.”
Michael Liebowitz
The Douglas Elliman CEO said he’s not worried about being lapped up in Compass’s waves, as he thinks the merger — and others that will undoubtedly occur in the coming year — will put businesses’ value proposition into clear view.
“I actually think the industry from that merger is actually going to come a little bit back to more of where it was,” he said. “I think we had an era where it was just, you know, everybody was just kind of killing each other. And I think the industry lost a little bit of quality there.”
“So I actually think that the merger coming together, narrowing it a little bit, makes clear differentiation between the businesses,” he added. “And for an agent, you can truly pick where you want to be and, you know, what fits into your philosophy.”
Carlson echoed Liebowitz’s sentiment, saying REMAX is laser-focused on deepening its value proposition for franchisees and leveraging its reputation as one of the industry’s longest-lasting brands.
Erik Carlson
“Consolidation is going to happen. Maybe it’s coming together. Maybe it’s pulling apart,” Carlson said. “And I come from the TV business, where we were apart. We all got together, and we were apart. So it’s a cycle. And I think control what you can control. Stay focused on what you are trying to accomplish and on your vision. Don’t get distracted.”
Pareja shared his thoughts on eXp’s market value — calling it the “home of the entrepreneurial agent” — before cutting through to the real concern surrounding the Compass-Anywhere merger: the potential proliferation of private listing networks.
“The elephant in the room is what happens to private listings, right? I don’t think anyone in this audience is unsure of my position on that,” he said. “I fundamentally believe, as someone who sold 4,000 homes and sat in people’s kitchens and had people in their car and helped them protect their equity, that it was my fiduciary responsibility to get the highest amount of money in the shortest amount of time. And that’s what I will continue to do.”
The eXp CEO pointed to Belize and the U.K. as examples of what’s at stake if the U.S. abandons the current MLS system.
“I sold my parents’ house in Belize. It took us four years, four different brokers. What blew my mind is that the listing agent has to post a listing on their shitty WordPress website. And then the listing agent has to show it to the buyer. He thought it was worth $350K. And I actually told the listing agent — and we were really frustrated at that point — ‘List it for $249K.’ He goes, ‘It’s not going to make a difference.’ Access, visibility is everything.”
“In the U.K., I am the single largest brand. There is a monopoly called Rightmove that is under investigation by the federal government for being an actual monopoly,” he added. “They charge me £50 per listing per month. I have 800 agents in the U.K. Last year, my bill was £2 million. These people looked me dead in my eyes and said they were going to raise my prices 10 percent every year forever. I said, ‘What about market dynamics? What about interest rates, supply, demand, transactions, etc.? They didn’t care.”
Pareja said there’s no middle ground on maintaining market transparency; everyone must participate to make it work.
“The agreement we signed up for is a data cooperative. If a large enough player decides to withhold for any period of time, it will create an equal reaction from another large enough player and another large enough player,” he said. “And before we know it, we have a fragmented market that is not as efficient as we enjoy in North America, to the benefit of the consumer. [That’s] who’s at risk.”
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