The Journal. Compass vs. Zillow: The Real Estate Wars
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Dec 15, 2025 
Nicole Friedman, a real estate reporter for The Wall Street Journal, dives into the fierce competition between Compass and Zillow. She explains how Compass is pushing a new listing strategy that encourages private sales to challenge traditional practices. Nicole highlights the implications of these changes for buyers and the real estate market's transparency. She also discusses potential ramifications of Compass's antitrust suit against Zillow and the evolving landscape of real estate as tech firms clash with traditional models.
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Portals Shape Homebuyer Behavior
- Online listing portals like Zillow and Redfin are often the first stop for buyers hunting homes.
- These portals aggregate MLS data and shape buyer expectations and search behavior.
Compass's Rapid Scale-Up
- Compass grew rapidly from a 2012 startup to the largest U.S. brokerage by sales volume with tens of thousands of agents.
- It is expanding further after agreeing to buy Anywhere, potentially controlling ~18% of U.S. sales volume.
Three-Phase Listing Strategy
- Compass's three-phase plan starts private, expands to compass.com, then hits full public MLS exposure.
- The phased approach can hide prior market history from broad portals until later stages.