Executives with Compass Worldwide Holdings suggested prime New York Metropolis brokers throughout its manufacturers to quickly take away their listings from StreetEasy this month, The Actual Deal has discovered.
Throughout two separate morning and afternoon conferences held on July 22 at Extell Growth’s Central Park Tower, CIH CEO Robert Reffkin and different brokerage heads urged brokers quickly take away their listings from the Zillow-owned platform beginning in August, in response to some brokers in attendance.
Every session, billed as a “Fall Advertising and marketing Playbook” launch, included roughly 200 brokers. Amongst them have been prime brokers corresponding to Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty’s Nikki Subject and Compass’ Leonard Steinberg, in addition to Corcoran president Pam Liebman and Sotheby’s Worldwide’s govt vp of gross sales, Marissa Ghesquiere, in response to photographs of the occasion posted to social media.
Brokers differed of their takeaways, with some in attendance viewing the assembly as a part of Compass’ fight against Zillow and StreetEasy. Others stated the suggestion got here as a part of a broader informational session about how brokers can greatest place their listings, with out concentrating on StreetEasy particularly.
Compass’ Steinberg stated that he often pulls listings off of public platforms in August, which is likely one of the slowest months for promoting actual property within the metropolis. “It’s a case of what the sellers need to do,” he stated.
A follow-up electronic mail despatched to Compass brokers after the session supplied a playbook to assist brokers recommend a refreshed itemizing technique to their sellers, with step one being “Delist your itemizing from StreetEasy.” The playbook urged utilizing the Actual Property Board of New York’s “Participant’s Solely” designation, which shares the itemizing with different brokers utilizing the Residential Itemizing Service, however doesn’t disseminate it to public-facing websites.
“When Compass makes use of their shoppers’ houses as leverage to learn their very own backside line, sellers lose publicity, patrons lose entry and the brokers who play by the foundations get undercut,” a StreetEasy spokesperson stated in an electronic mail. “That is the Compass playbook: pull listings from open platforms, consolidate patrons into their very own channels, and name it vendor selection. New Yorkers deserve higher.”
A spokesperson for Compass stated that the conferences have been to debate methods for the autumn market.
“We imagine brokers have a fiduciary obligation to symbolize their shoppers’ greatest curiosity, and that offering sellers with decisions on learn how to market their properties helps them obtain their particular person targets,” the spokesperson wrote in an electronic mail.
Increasing battlelines
The gathering of a whole bunch of prime brokers within the metropolis to advise them on taking their listings off of StreetEasy nonetheless raises questions on how Compass may use its important market energy in New York Metropolis because it has ramped up its battle with Zillow over who controls and monetizes listings.
On Compass’ second-quarter earnings call this week, Robert Reffkin criticized portals like Zillow, with out naming it straight, for sustaining what he known as restrictive guidelines over how brokers can record properties. He additionally urged that as Compass’ use of personal and “Coming Quickly” listings grows, patrons will begin visiting the agency’s web site straight for listings.
“Is it unreasonable to count on that the corporate that has essentially the most listings in the US is the primary place folks search the US?” Reffkin requested throughout the name. “I don’t suppose so.”
The feedback maintain additional weight after Compass’ acquisition of Anyplace, which introduced in nationwide manufacturers like Corcoran, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty and Century 21, including nearly 90,000 owned-brokerage brokers and 280,000 franchise brokers that may contribute listings to Compass’ unique platform and web site.
On the earnings name, Reffkin additionally pointed to Chicago, the place visitors surged to Compass’ personal web site within the second quarter, as a profitable native case research for what occurs when listings from Compass brokers disappear from Zillow.
For a number of days in Could, Zillow misplaced practically half of its listings after the native MLS, Midwest Actual Property Knowledge, lower the platform’s information feed. The earlier week, Zillow had sued Compass and MRED, alleging the businesses conspired to hurt Zillow and stifle competitors after Compass syndicated all of its listings on to MRED as a part of the itemizing service’s nationwide growth.
Solely in New York
The showdown between Compass and Zillow started in earnest final yr when Zillow up to date its guidelines in April to ban listings from its platform that have been marked elsewhere and never uploaded instantly to its platform. Compass sued Zillow in June of final yr over its coverage, however dropped the case earlier this yr.
Across the identical time, StreetEasy unveiled its personal coverage that will shut off agent entry to broadly used applications like StreetEasy Consultants, StreetEasy Concierge and Zillow Premier Agent for New York Metropolis brokers discovered to be advertising and marketing listings off its platform.
Brokerage relationships with StreetEasy and the Actual Property Board of New York’s Residential Itemizing Service should not the identical as their relationships with MLSes and Zillow, as most brokers input their listings directly onto StreetEasy slightly than counting on syndication.
Nonetheless, Compass has acquired a major chunk of the agent base within the metropolis after its $1.6 billion acquisition in January of Anyplace Actual Property, which owned main manufacturers within the metropolis like Corcoran, Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty and Coldwell Banker Warburg. An evaluation from regulatory publication The Capitol Discussion board put Compass’ market share in Manhattan at 80 p.c primarily based on 2025 information from RealTrends.
Compass took a major step in its model consolidation earlier this month when it knowledgeable brokers at Coldwell Banker Warburg that they might be folded into Compass and start working as “Warburg at Compass.”
Compass’ consolidation amid its push for brokers to make use of personal listings has caught the eye of native and federal officers. In June, TRD reported that the antitrust division of the New York Legal professional Basic’s Workplace was reaching out to leaders at prime New York Metropolis brokerages to request info as a part of a probe into Compass’ footprint available in the market.
In July, Reffkin received a letter from a U.S. Home subcommittee centered on antitrust and regulatory points requesting a briefing on its partnership with MRED and the way its use of personal listings might impression the housing market.
Learn extra
“People will search where the inventory is”: Robert Reffkin lays out Compass’ portal ambitions
MLS en garde: Regional listing services eyeing congressional inquiry into Compass and MRED
StreetEasy to boot agents from specialty tools over private listings
