Massachusetts’ Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to Compass International Holdings CEO and founder Robert Reffkin and Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) CEO Rebecca Jensen requesting information about the recent partnership between the two companies related to the expansion of MRED’s private listing network nationwide.
“Your partnership threatens to create a two-tiered housing market where insiders pay for exclusive access to housing inventory and market data, while everyone else is shut out. I am concerned that this move will increase industry consolidation and harm consumers by driving up housing costs and worsening inequalities in the housing market,” Sen. Warren wrote in the letter, which was sent on Thursday. “Given these risks, and the fact that Compass has engaged in similar partnerships with other MLSs, I request that you explain any and all steps you have and will take to mitigate the potential harms of your partnership.”
According to the letter, obtained by HousingWire, Sen. Warren fears that the partnership between MRED and Compass will hide listings from the broader market because the private listing network is restricted to only MRED members.
“Private listings also have the potential to obscure key data typically used to negotiate home prices, like the number of days on the market or price change history,” the letter states.
She goes on to argue that hiding data like this could also destabilize the broader housing market, as the mortgage market relies on “complete and accurate housing data (including days on market and price history) to inform appraisals and other aspects of the home purchase process.”
According to the letter, the partnership between Compass and MRED is “especially concerning” due to the size of the two companies, with Compass being the nation’s largest brokerage and MRED being one of the country’s largest MLSs.
“Since announcing its partnership with MRED, Compass has entered into similar agreements with other MLSs, such as Bright MLS, Realtracs and MLS/CLAW. Compass has also tried to expand its market power by leading efforts to influence MLS policies that benefit its business — potentially unfairly expanding the number of listings under its control and that are then hidden from other industry actors and consumers alike at a time when for-sale housing stock is already constrained, unaffordable and out of reach,” Sen. Warren wrote.
Potential harm to buyers and sellers
The letter also argues that this partnership could also increase costs for home buyers and sellers.
“By keeping listings hidden within its own networks, the Compass-MRED partnership blocks non-Compass agents and other brokerages from accessing these listings unless they pay into the PLN, effectively making PLN-based listings invisible to buyers working with unaffiliated industry professionals. When competing agents and consumers cannot see the full range of properties and home values available on the market, it reduces buyers’ ability to make informed purchase decisions,” Sen. Warren wrote.
The letter also cited a Zillow study that found that homes sold off the MLS between 2023 and 2024 typically sold for $4,975 less than those listed on the MLS, representing a $1 billion loss in home equity for home sellers nationwide.
Additionally, the letter noted that if buyers do not have full access to all available inventory, it will reduce their bargaining and buying power.
According to Sen. Warren, while private listing networks pose threats to both buyers and sellers, brokerages who use them stand to profit as they will be able to more easily double end deals.
“These end-to-end transactions pose serious conflicts of interest and reduce negotiation power to the detriment of both buyers and sellers. For example, an end-to-end transaction allows brokerages to draw commissions from both the buyer and seller, increasing their profits at the expense of American consumers,” she wrote.
Fair housing concerns
The letter also argued that the partnership between Compass and MRED could undermine fair housing and civil rights protections. Sen. Warren wrote that the Compass-MRD PLN could create significant fair housing risks by restricting access to listings for first-time buyers, lower-income households and historically underrepresented groups. She also criticized Compass and MRED for rejecting the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy, which is intended to promote transparency, accountability and compliance with fair housing laws, and questions whether MRED’s move away from mandatory NAR membership weakens those safeguards.
Sen. Warren concludes the letter with a list of questions she would like Compass and MRED to answer prior to August 21. The questions include requests for data on the share of Compass’s private listings and MRED’s membership count since announcing the partnership, as well as requests for information about any potentially third-party antitrust analysis of the partnership.
Compass did not wish to comment on the letter, but a spokesperson from MRED told HousingWire that the MLS would be “honored to speak with Senator Warren and explain the important role of the MLS in the real estate marketplace.”
“Issues such as fair housing, data quality, and rules are critical to any MLS. We look forward to discussing MRED’s value with her,” the spokesperson added.
Others with the same questions
The partnership between MRED and Compass is also being probed by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust, which informed the MLS and the brokerage via letter that a panel is examining whether certain real estate companies are using PLNs and similar structures “to insulate themselves from competition at the expense of consumers,” undercutting the goals of U.S. antitrust law.
This is not the first time Sen. Warren has taken issue with some of Compass’s recent actions. In December, she sent a letter to antitrust officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) arguing that Compass’s acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate could harm homebuyers by contributing to higher broker fees and limiting access to property listings.
In addition to these concerns from Sen. Warren, earlier this week Derrick Johnson, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wrote an op-ed for Time magazine, in which he argued the growing use of PLNs threatens the transparency of the housing market and could disproportionately disadvantage first-time, lower-income and minority buyers.
He contends that restricting listings to select agents or networks can reduce opportunities for buyers and sellers while creating conditions for discriminatory steering and unequal access to housing. He also applauded states like Washington and Connecticut which enacted laws governing private listing networks, arguing that this issue is ultimately a civil rights and fair housing concern, not merely an industry dispute.