Compass is poised to significantly increase its market share in North Texas following its planned acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate. The deal would add about 340,000 real estate professionals under the Compass umbrella. However, local brokers are uncertain about how this consolidation will impact their daily operations.
Last year, Compass acquired @properties for $444 million, strengthening its position in Chicago where it and @properties held the top two spots among brokerages. If the merger with Anywhere proceeds as expected next year, Compass-affiliated brands would represent most of the sales volume among Chicago’s top 20 brokerages.
The North Texas market presents a different landscape. In 2024, the top 20 brokerages in the Dallas-Fort Worth area reported a combined $37.9 billion in sales volume. Of that total, Compass and brands it aims to acquire completed $12.39 billion—roughly one-third of the region’s market share. Other firms accounted for $25.55 billion.
Among North Texas brokerages operating under the Anywhere brand are Coldwell Banker Apex, Coldwell Banker Realty, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Real Estate, Century 21 Mike Bowman, and Century 21 Judge Fite. Together with Compass’ own office in Dallas, these brands had a combined volume of $12.4 billion last year—more than double that of Ebby Halliday Real Estate ($5.84 billion), which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
It is important to note that several brands involved—Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International Real Estate and Century 21—operate on a franchise model with independently owned offices. While Compass owns its Dallas location outright, Anywhere does not own businesses using its branding; these remain independent competitors within the same network.
“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 (recently acquired by Compass), noted that little changes for franchisees day-to-day: “We still report to the same Christie’s leadership; if anything’s happened, it’s actually helped us on the recruiting side.” He added that branding plays an important role in luxury markets.
Christie’s management previously told agents that being associated with Compass could enhance prestige among clients. Not all agents welcomed this development; Nancy Almodovar from Houston-based Nan & Co said her firm was “blindsided” by Compass’ move.
Tommy Flood leads Keller Williams’ GO Network—the largest Keller Williams franchise—and expects his company to become second only to Compass after the acquisition: “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 sharing: “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 use multitenant technology structures to collect non-identifiable or “agnostic” data without breaching agreements: “You can build a technology stack on what’s called a single-tenant model… For franchises… there might be some agnostic data or whatever the word is — it’s not identifiable data — that might pool up to where you get a bigger picture of the real estate market.”
According to TRD Data from last year, Compass ranked second among North Texas brokerages while Century 21 Judge Fite was eleventh with $1.3 billion in sales volume; 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 regarding competition between firms: “Anywhere brokerages don’t compete with us in the Dallas market.”
