Gary Dolch
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Compass may regularly polarize the real estate industry, but the company’s assertiveness has apparently not slowed down growth, with a new earnings report showing that it upped revenue, agent count, transactions and various other numbers in the first three months of 2025.
The report, published Thursday, shows that Compass’ revenue in the first quarter grew 28.7 percent year over year to $1.4 billion. The company’s number of principal agents also grew from 14,591 at the end of Q1 in 2024 to 20,656 at the same time this year.
Additionally, Compass agents closed 49,121 transactions during the first three months of 2025, which is up 27.8 percent compared to the first three months of last year.
Compass did still lose money, though the loss of $50.7 million was a significant improvement over the $132.9 million it lost in the first quarter of 2024. The report further notes that Compass was free cash flow positive in Q1, which is important in the brokerage’s case because CEO Robert Reffkin has repeatedly made positive free cash flow a goal.
The report notes several times that Compass’ numbers outperformed the broader market, which saw transactions drop 2.1 percent. Reffkin hit on a similar theme, saying in the report that despite market volatility, his company “continued to widen the gap against the industry.” He also said that Compass has the highest number of top agents and teams.
“Looking ahead, while recent market trends have been somewhat mixed, we remain confident that our playbook and structural advantages position Compass to drive significant upside over time,” Reffkin added.
Compass’ new report further states that the brokerage now has a national market share of 6 percent.
Heading into Thursday’s earnings, shares in Compass were trading in the mid to high $7 range. That was up for the day but down for the week. It also represents a significant improvement over one year ago, when shares in the brokerage were trading in the low $3 range.
Shares trended down slightly in after-hours trading following the publication of Thursday’s report.
Compass had a market cap of about $4 billion as of Thursday afternoon.
Thursday’s earnings report arrives against the backdrop of an intense push by Compass in favor of private listings. Such listings are a key part of Compass’ “Three-Phase Marketing Strategy,” which sees properties marketed privately first, then marketed as “coming soon” second, and finally entered into a local multiple listing service in the third and last stage of the process.
Reffkin has vocally touted private listings, arguing among other things that homesellers should be able to market properties how they please. And though Reffkin has been the industry’s most vocal proponent of private listings, other brokerages have rolled out their own private listing networks as well.
At the same time, however, private listings have also drawn intense criticism from figures such as eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja and NextHome CEO James Dwiggins. Moreover, Compass is currently in the beginning stages of a lawsuit with Northwest MLS in Washington state over the issue.
Heading into Thursday’s earnings, there was thus a question about whether Compass’ prominent role in the private listings debate might have some sort of impact on the brokerage’s bottom line or agent count numbers. So far, however, that does not appear to be the case.
Compass’ new earnings report touts the company’s Three-Phase Marketing Strategy, noting that “48.2 percent of homeowners who listed their home with Compass” outside of Washington used the program. That adds up to a total of 19,393 listings, the report notes.
Reffkin also discussed private listings during a call with analysts, saying that homeowners do not want the National Association of Realtors, MLSs or portals telling them how to market their homes. And he criticized MLSs and portals for increasing “friction” in order to discourage private listings. The comment was an apparent allusion to episodes such as the NWMLS situation and Zillow’s recent ban on private listings.
Reffkin also said that there is no downside for homesellers to use Compass’ Three-Phase Marketing Strategy.
“The worst thing that happens is a homeowner gets an offer and they have an opportunity to turn it down and go to the public sites,” Reffkin said. “That’s the downside, which means there is no downside.”
Reffkin later said that he expects to see private listings grow over the next year, and suggested industry incumbents have resisted private listings out of a sense of self interest.
“Agents aren’t stupid,” Reffkin said during the call. “If you need to fine them and ban them to keep them on your platform, there is something wrong with your platform.”