Does the Compass-Anywhere merger spark new phase in portal wars?

"By growing our listing inventory, we believe more and more buyers will search Compass.com and use Compass agents, as it will be known that Compass has more inventory than any other website or brokerage, Reffkin said during his firm's third-quarter 2024 earnings call with investors and analysts in late-October 2024. Ultimately, our North Star is to use our depth of inventory to create better outcomes for sellers, buyers and our agents, which, as a function, translates to better outcomes for Compass and our shareholders."

"I think they will be able to leverage their private listings into an online real estate portfolio, Alec Brondolo, an analyst at Wells Fargo, said. In his letter to the industry last week, Robert publicly indicated that he is planning to compete directly with the online real estate portal business. How exactly that will manifest is still a bit unclear to Brondolo, but he does say that Compass's ability to show listings other real estate listing sites may not have will play a large role in how Compass is able to market its site and brokerage to consumers and agents."

"There is some merit to being able to say, I have a portal with 100% of the available inventory,' or even just a greater amount of inventory, that can build consumer traffic, Brondolo said. It is also definitely a tool for agent recruitment because if you are an agent at another brokerage and there are homes on the market that you don't have access to or don't know about because you are brokered somewhere else, that is a good impetus for you to join Compass."

Compass is growing its listing inventory to draw more buyers to Compass.com and increase use of Compass agents by claiming greater inventory than other websites or brokerages. The strategy uses inventory depth to create better outcomes for sellers, buyers and agents and to improve results for Compass and shareholders. Industry analysts believe Compass may be on course to achieve this goal and could use private listings to build an online real estate portfolio. Compass's ability to show listings other sites may lack can be a marketing advantage and a recruitment tool. A portal with a larger share of inventory could increase consumer traffic and lure agents.

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