Posted on December 3, 2024

Compass is set to acquire @properties Christie's International Realty, executives said. Two of the biggest residential real estate brokerages in the United States are merging — a move that comes at a time when the housing market is still sluggish. Executives at Compass announced on Monday that they'd reached an agreement to acquire @properties Christie's International Real Estate. The deal is valued at $444 million and is expected to become official early next year.

The merger comes as residential real estate brokerages are grappling with a slow-moving housing market and rule changes to the way agents do their business. That's created challenges that has left some brokerages struggling to retain agents and sell properties. "In what we still expect to be a very slow market, it's clear that we are acquiring one of the best businesses in our industry," Compass CEO Robert Reffkin told investors on a call to discuss the deal. Earlier this year, industry tracker RealTrends ranked Compass as the largest brokerage and @properties as the eighth-largest brokerage based on sales volume in the U.S.

Executives said Monday that all three brand identities will be preserved but will all operate underneath the Compass umbrella. "This is a very complementary union that respects our unique brands and empowers agents to provide an even better experience for the clients they serve," @properties co-CEO Mike Golden said in a statement.

Brand and Consumer Benefits

The deal is part of New York-based Compass' recent strategy to grow its presence in some of the country's largest markets. By acquiring the Chicago-based @properties Christie's International Real Estate brand, Compass will gain a foothold in both the Midwest and Atlanta markets, executives said. At the same time, it will expand its reach internationally with the assumption of Christie's global franchises. "We get to immediately expand our reach into luxury international markets such as Paris, London, Singapore and Dubai, just to name a few," Reffkin said Monday.

And the deal also stands to benefit consumers, according to Compass executives. By bringing the @properties title insurance and mortgage businesses under the Compass umbrella and expanding the inventory of properties available to Compass, buyers and sellers will have more options, Reffkin said. "We want to build a company that better serves homeowners and builds a platform for homeowners that gives them the same advantages as the big real estate developers, real estate professional real estate developers, as well as the real estate home builders," he told investors. "Bringing two great companies together, I think, gives us a clear path to being able to give these kinds of benefits to individual homeowners."

By Moira Ritter CoStar News