Recently, a veteran, very vocal basher of Compass—who for decades wrote a paid-for report for Compass' most vocal competitor/critic in the New York area, made this statement:

“And when you have the largest brokerage firm in the world putting a large amount of listings behind a paywall, you’re forced to go through an agent of a particular company rather than anybody you want. This is a major setback in the homebuying process to the 1950s.” - New York Post

To the less informed, this is the definition of the word "Paywall": a digital security gate that blocks users from viewing website content until they pay a fee or buy a subscription. Does Compass charge anyone a fee to see our listings? Do you have to buy or subscribe to a service to see those listings or do you simply have to register with a Compass agent with zero obligation to pay for anything or use that agent?

25 years ago in New York City, you had to buy a New York Times to view real estate listings in that newspaper, that's a paywall, no? Were all listings in there? No. Are all listings on any site? No. And have all listings ever been on any site, especially when developers of new homes or condo buildings like 80 Clarkson, show none of their 112 units for sale and are not required to? No. In the 1950's, you had to drive around to see "for sale" signs or call on a classified ad. Or consult with a real estate agent. Today you can do all of this from the palm of your hand, but you have never been able to see all homes for sale on one site, ever. Never. Ever.

COMPASS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS controls approximately 21.6% of the residential real estate market nationwide in the US, well below the threshold of a monopoly. The term monopoly may be referring to instances where:

• There are only two sellers of a given good (duopoly)

• There are very few sellers of a given good (oligopoly)

• There is a single buyer of a given good (monopsony)

• There are only two buyers of a given good (duopsony)

• There are very few buyers of a given good (oligopsony)

• There are many buyers or sellers, but one actor has enough market share to dictate prices (near monopolies)

Most people forget that while the multiple brokerages under the Compass International Holdings umbrella, each agent is competing with one another within those brokerages, not just between brokerages, as they are independent contractors, and there are no set commissions or price-fixing of any kind. ie: zero damage to the consumer. No agent "dictates" any price.