Compass-Anywhere deal sparks MLS reckoning

For many in the multiple listing services (MLS) industry, Monday’s announcement that Compass was acquiring Anywhere served as a wake-up call of sorts. 

Over the past year, Compass has worked to grow its stockpile of exclusive listings, but many did not consider the Robert Reffkin-helmed firm a serious threat to the MLS structure, due to the size of his firm. That all changed with Monday’s acquisition.

In acquiring Anywhere, Compass now has a global network of 340,000 agents that combines the No. 1 brokerage in the nation by sale volume and the No. 2 brokerage in the country by transaction side count, making a prospective Compass-Anywhere exclusive listing platform a serious threat to the existing MLS system. 

While planned prior to Compass’s announcement on Monday, Council of MLSs (CMLS) CEO Denee Evans’ comments at the opening of CMLS’ 2025 Open House conference Tuesday morning in Toronto were incredibly insightful and apropos given the events of the week. 

MLSs are at an inflection point

“Tomorrow’s MLSs must thrive in competition, not just survive, and that means earning their customers every single day. It means being better because if customers have another choice they may go with it,” Evans said. “Now, let’s be clear, I’m not saying your competition is just your neighbors or whoever is sitting at your table, or even portals or mega brokers with private networks, or startups offering new ideas, but it could also be something we haven’t even seen yet. MLSs need to compete every day just like our brokers and agents do.”

As Damian Eales, the CEO of Realtor.com-owner Move, Inc., sees it, the MLSs are at an inflection point. 

“The world is turning and many would say not in the favor of the MLS,” Eales said during a session at Open House Tuesday morning. “For those companies and commentators who criticize, bully or sue the open MLS system and independent buyer agency it enables, you should be careful what you wish for. The American system could devolve.” 

At the same time that competition in the MLS space has increased, the MLSs have also had to contend with removal of the agent compensation aspect of their value proposition, thanks to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement. 

“We are coming out of a world where the pillars of the MLS were compensation and cooperation, and one of those pillars is gone and never coming back,” Ed Zorn, the general counsel and vice president of California Regional MLS, said. “Now we have to decide if we are able to build the MLS on what is now, just a foundation of cooperation.” 

Expanding what the MLS is

With MLSs looking to evolve and grow, Evans shared a few things MLSs can do to not only compete in this new environment, but thrive. In Evans’ view, MLSs need to evolve from just providing listing data to providing data on the life of that property. 

“We need to expand what we think the MLS is,” Evans said. “You have to move from not just a moment in time of a listing but the living lifetime of that asset of the home. Having just the listings won’t allow us to compete.” 

As MLSs look to make changes and evolve, Evans asked them to keep consumers as their North Star.

“Please be open to letting go of what you know and be open to what could be,” she said. 

Although many MLSs may be concerned about the challenges that may lie ahead for them, Holly Mabery, the senior vice president of brokerage operations at eXp Realty, whose brokers and agents use MLSs across the country on a daily basis, told attendees that despite the need for some advancements, she still believes a strong MLS is essential for a strong real estate industry. 

“Everybody is holding up the MLS and saying that it’s the lightbulb. No, it is the power grid,” Mabery said. “Everything that is built on top of that is for our agents and our brokers to have success. If the power grid is servicing everybody at that seamless level, then we all win.”

An expanded dialogue with brokers

Although many of the threats facing today’s MLSs come from outside sources, such as regulatory pressure, tech start-ups and listing data become more widely available, Craig Cheatham, the president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, said not to discount disgruntled brokers, a category he would include Compass in. If MLSs hope to continue being the power grid for the industry, he said MLS leaders should meet with brokerage leaders, including those at Compass, to figure out how they can serve them best. 

“Nothing is going to change overnight with Compass’s acquisition, but if those two powers do come together, eventually there is going to be much greater pressure applied on the MLS and on certain portals and NAR,” Cheatham said. “One of the big lessons from the past is the you need to monitor and meet with all of your brokers.” 

So while the competitive landscape for MLSs may look a bit different now than it did even a year ago, many real estate industry participants still view it as an essential piece of the housing ecosystem. But the message from CMLS Open House speakers is clear: if MLSs want to stay relevant and competitive, they cannot be afraid of change. 

“There is far more change ahead of us,” Matt Consalvo, the CEO of Arizona Regional MLS, said. “There is far more that is going to happen over the next three years than that has happened since 2013. We need to start working together in ways we’ve never done. We need to start making sure we partner with our brokers in ways we have only dreamed of and we need to find our path to the future because the MLS deserves to be strong and healthy.”