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The real estate industry has a new giant. Compass and Anywhere have officially merged. The companies announced the close of the $1.6 billion deal Friday morning through filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The closing comes just four months after Compass announced its proposed acquisition of Anywhere in mid-September.
Compass had originally estimated a summer or fall 2026 close date for the transaction. However, after a shareholder vote on Wednesday, in which stockholders at both firms approved the merger, the companies announced a much accelerated timeline.
“Our collective vision is to become the best in the world at empowering real estate professionals with everything they need to realize their entrepreneurial potential,” Robert Reffkin, the founder and CEO of Compass, said in a statement. “What makes this moment unique is not a transaction that combines two companies — it’s that the industry’s most respected brands and professionals are coming together on a single, modern technology platform that will help them save time, grow their business, and better serve their clients.”
Reffkin will lead the merged companies under Compass International Holdings as its chairman and CEO.
The close of the transaction comes despite pushback from federal lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who had previously called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to consider blocking the proposed acquisition. In a letter sent to the federal regulators in December, they argued that the acquisition could harm homebuyers by contributing to higher broker fees and limiting access to property listings.
Central to these concerns is the eyebrow raising market share levels the combined companies have in certain metro areas. An analysis of RealTrends Verified data published by The Capitol Forum in mid-December found that the proposed acquisition could create market share concentrations “well above presumptively illegal thresholds,” in at least a dozen states. This includes more than 80% market share in both Newport Beach, California and Manhattan. The analysis included Anywhere’s owned and franchised business.
Despite this warning from the senators, the acquisition cleared its Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements (HSR) Act of 1976 waiting period last Friday without any action from the DOJ or FTC. Under the HSR Act, after notifying the DOJ and FTC of a proposed acquisition, the parties must observe a mandatory waiting period, during which the government agencies review the proposed transaction for potential antitrust concerns.
In an emailed statement on Wednesday, Senator Warren told HousingWire that she had warned that the merger could raise costs for consumers by reducing competition.
“Now, instead of addressing the full-blown housing crisis flattening American families, the Trump administration has rubber-stamped a deal that will make things even worse,” she wrote. “This is just the latest example of Donald Trump failing to lower costs for Americans.”
While the transaction has closed, this does not mean it is free from antitrust scrutiny, as the DOJ or FTC could still launch an inquiry.
In addition to pushback from federal lawmakers, the deal also faced three lawsuits from Anywhere stockholders. In mid-December shareholders at Anywhere filed three separate lawsuits against the firm alleging that Anywhere made insufficient financial disclosures to its stockholders about the proposed merger. Anywhere did not return HousingWire’s request for comment on the allegations in these lawsuits.
