Compass remains in headlines this week as CEO Robert Reffkin addressed the industry’s “shifting stance on phased marketing” in the company’s recent Q1 2026 earnings call, as the brokerage touts new synergies and business growth from its recent acquisitions.
Speaking to investors, Reffkin said that he and other Compass executives are “pleased to see several other large portals and large brokerages following our lead.”
“Sellers want more choices, not less choices,” he continued. “As ‘Coming Soon’ listings are provided as an option to more sellers, they’ll realize that they have more options and more choices.”
There have been rumblings about competition as phased marketing branches out across the real estate industry, with Zillow Preview now partnering with Realtor.com® and nearly 60 brokerages, and many other brokerages introducing their own phased marketing options.
And while much of the focus of the call was on acquisitions, Reffkin spent a significant amount of time delving into recent industry moves on pre-marketing and listing platforms—many of which Compass has led—as he said the company is “confident” it has the best offering for these types of listings.
Specifically, Reffkin touted how Compass “Coming Soon” buyer inquiries are sent directly to listing agents, showings and open houses are allowed for phased listings and the company’s “depth of inventory in major markets” plays into the local angle of real estate.
“Furthermore, we have also seen recruiting momentum pick up in the Compass brand since our announcement, and principal agent recruiting is off to a faster start in Q2 than expected,” he claimed.
At the same time, though, one investor said that 84,000 agents at owned brokerages was lower than expected, with Compass CFO Scott Wahlers saying that was “really kind of related to nonproductive agents.”
Transformative plans
Investors asked Reffkin whether the company had observed an uptake in usage of pre-marketing with the Redfin partnership introduced last quarter, and after Zillow modified its rules around listings to be less strict on what gets banned from its platforms.
Reffkin said the company has “definitely seen an increase,” but it’s been “modest” so far as the market has faced challenges heading into the spring.
“Our ‘Coming Soons’ went from, I think it was low 20s to mid 30s, and I expect it to be much higher in the months ahead,” he continued. “My expectation is that 80% of our listings will go through the ‘Coming Soon’ phase.”
On the topic of private listings and phase marketing, Reffkin touched on private listing bans—like the one recently signed into law in Washington state—and noted that these laws do not block Compass’s phased marketing strategy.
He claimed that Compass’s label of “Private Exclusives” is just that, a label. The listings are not genuinely private because “you can’t sell something to yourself,” so they are still publicly marketed as the law demands.
Reffkin added that he believes Compass’s marketing will also be legal under state laws passed or proposed in two other states—Wisconsin and Connecticut—based on the fact that those new statutes explicitly allow private marketing with a state-mandated disclosure.
This is the same argument the company presented recently in its lawsuit with Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), requesting the lawsuit be thrown out as Compass’s “Private Exclusives” adhere to state law. NWMLS has argued that Compass’s marketing practices violate both the new law as well as longstanding consumer protection statutes.
This led Reffkin into discussion of the company’s recently announced partnership with Chicago-based MLS Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) to take the MLS nationwide, adding that the reason for the partnership is to “create a national MLS to replace local MLSs.”
“I want to create a national MLS to compete against local MLSs because if they have to compete, who are they competing for? For us, for agents,” he continued. “Agents deserve more choices. Sellers deserve more choices, not less. We are pushing on the system so that sellers are the only person that decides how they market their home in the context of the law.”
And despite the fact that the two companies appear more aligned on policy, Reffkin still took a parting shot at Zillow Preview and its tagline of “bringing light” to pre-market listings, saying Compass is “bringing to the light that sellers have been losing the disinterested advice of their fiduciary because of MLS fines and Zillow bans.”
“We are bringing to the light that sellers should be, with their agents, able to decide how they market their home in any way they want, not third-party portals and third-party platforms like an MLS,” he continued. “I think that history will look back and they’ll see that sellers will have more choices because of the efforts that we’ve been pushing forward.”
The numbers
Compass’s Q1 2026 earnings release outlined what the company characterized as a strong start to 2026. The company saw $2.7 billion in revenue, up about 59% from $1.7 billion in Q4 2025 and 99% from $1.36 billion in Q1 2025—an increase attributed to the addition of Anywhere brand’s revenue this quarter.
As for other financials, net income was $22 million, down from $42.6 million last quarter, but up from a net loss of $51 million one year ago. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) clocked in at $61 million, up from $58.3 million last quarter and $16 million one year ago.
On the brokerage side, gross transaction value was $97.3 billion in Q1 2026, up 48% from $65.6 in Q4 2025 and 85.7% from $52.4 billion in Q1 2025. Compass agents closed 99,504 total transactions throughout the quarter, up from 60,328 last quarter and 49,121 last year. Increases were again attributed to the addition of Anywhere’s business to the Compass ecosystem.
Agent count grew to 84,187 in Q1 due to the inclusion of Anywhere agents, compared to 36,990 in Q4 2025. The company did note a quarter-over-quarter decline in agent count, which was “driven primarily by a strategy at Anywhere to separate non-productive agents.” Agent retention sat at 94% at the end of the quarter.
As the merger with Anywhere progresses, with the brands now being included in Compass’s earnings, the company stated that the Compass technology platform—Compass One—will start being rolled out to Anywhere owned brokerages next month, with a plan for everyone in the ecosystem to have access by the first week of September. Franchise and affiliate business-wise, it will be rolled out in January with a goal of total adoption by spring.
Looking ahead, Compass stated it expects a revenue of $4 billion to $4.2 billion for Q2, and an adjusted EBITDA of $310 million to $350 million.
