Compass (COMP) is nearing a deal to purchase Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.B) HomeServices of America real-estate brokerage business, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, a move that would merge two of the four largest brokerages in the U.S.
The Journal could not determine the price of the HomeServices sale.
The deal to nab one of Warren Buffett’s most recognizable businesses would mark the second major acquisition in a matter of months for Compass, after the company purchased Christie’s International Real Estate and @properties in 2024.
The continued consolidation of the residential real estate industry may raise alarms for consumer advocates and antitrust hawks, particularly with the national median home price up 28% from just five years ago.
“Seems like this would be something the FTC might want to look into,” Texas real estate broker Aaron Layman wrote on X. “More consolidation would be no bueno for consumers.”
Compass led the sector with $184.5 billion in sales in 2023, per data from RealTrends, with HomeServices following not far behind with $133.8 billion. Combined, the two firms would be by far the largest residential home brokerage in the country.
Both brokerages have faced antitrust scrutiny of their own. Compass paid $57.5 million and HomeServices paid $250 million last year to settle lawsuits alleging they, along with other major brokerages, had conspired with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to prop up sales commissions.
Compass has also pushed for the repeal of the NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy, which requires that listings be marketed publicly on multiple listing services—or the MLS—within one day. Proponents of the policy argue it prevents major players like Compass from consolidating the market.
“If you were a consumer, would you need 50 percent of the listings to be withheld from the MLS before you decided that you wanted to work with the biggest brokers in town? No,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman told The Real Deal earlier this year.
At the same time, antitrust regulators have signaled they will take a more lenient approach to mergers and acquisitions under the Trump administration than in previous years.
“If we think conduct or merger is going to hurt Americans economically, I’m taking you to court,” said Andrew Ferguson, the new Republican chairman of the Federal Trade Commission told a Yale’s CEO Caucus gathering this month, according to reporting from Axios.
“But if we don’t, we’ll get the hell out of the way.”
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