Compass’ planned acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate could reshape the North Texas real estate market, but local brokers are uncertain about the practical effects.
The deal comes after Compass purchased @properties for $444 million last year, strengthening its position in Chicago’s brokerage sector. If the merger with Anywhere is finalized next year, Compass and its affiliated brands would account for a majority of sales volume among Chicago’s top 20 brokerages, based on last year’s data.
In North Texas, the top 20 brokerages recorded $37.9 billion in sales volume last year. The combined sales from Compass and brands it would acquire totaled $12.39 billion, which represents roughly one-third of the market share in the region. Other brokerages made up $25.55 billion in volume.
Brands under the Anywhere umbrella in North Texas include Coldwell Banker Apex, Coldwell Banker Realty, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Real Estate, Century 21 Mike Bowman, and Century 21 Judge Fite. Their combined sales volume of $12.4 billion would surpass that of Berkshire Hathaway-owned Ebby Halliday Real Estate, which had $5.84 billion.
However, some brands such as Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International Real Estate and Century 21 operate as franchisors; their local offices are independently owned and compete with each other to varying degrees. The merger will not consolidate these businesses into a single entity.
“We have a franchise agreement with Anywhere, and that will stay in place for the long term,” said Jim Fite, owner of Century 21 Judge Fite.
Jerry Mooty Jr., CEO and broker at Christie’s International Real Estate @properties Lone Star—which was also recently acquired by Compass—said that daily operations remain unchanged for franchisees: “We still report to the same Christie’s leadership; if anything’s happened, it’s actually helped us on the recruiting side,” he said. He added that branding remains important in luxury real estate.
Christie’s leadership previously told agents that joining Compass would enhance their prestige. However, Nancy Almodovar of Nan & Co stated her team was “blindsided” by Compass’ move.
Tommy Flood of Keller Williams’ GO Network argued: “I actually believe the consumer maybe even pays more attention to the brand of the individual agent than they do the company.”
Fite expressed concern over data privacy: “The ownership of data is very important. I don’t want my company data in the hands of my competitor, and I believe my franchise agreement prevents that.”
Mooty explained that Compass can collect non-identifiable or “agnostic” data using a multitenant technology structure without breaching franchise agreements: “You can build a technology stack on what’s called a single-tenant model… That’s what Compass was originally when it was just Compass,” he said. For franchises there may be aggregated market-level data collected without identifying individual offices or clients.
Last year TRD Data ranked Compass second among North Texas brokerages; Century 21 Judge Fite placed eleventh with $1.3 billion in volume while Coldwell Banker Apex ranked fifth at $2.2 billion.
Michelle Wood from Detwiler+Wood Group—the highest-producing Compass team in Dallas—noted: “I think our presence is smaller in the more medium price range in the suburbs.” She also stated that Anywhere-affiliated brokerages “don’t compete with us in the Dallas market” when asked about potential changes to rivalries following an acquisition.
