New national home listing database is taking on Compass in the battle for control of real estate information

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MIAMI, FLORIDA - AUGUST 01: An aerial view of single family homes on August 01, 2025 in Miami, Florida. Home sales have fallen across South Florida as high interest rates and other factors have weighed on the market. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Some heavy hitters in residential real estate just joined the fight over who can see residential property listings. Their goal, they say, is to counter private listings, which are becoming increasingly popular in certain markets.

AGNT (which owns eXp Realty and NextHome), HomeServices of America, Keller Williams and Real REMAX Group, four of the nation's largest brokerages, announced that they are creating a largely open and shared database (API) of listings for brokers — and inviting all other brokerages to join it. Those who do must submit a new listing within one business day. There is, however, an option within the system for certain private listings.

Open Real Estate is designed, according to its founders, to counter the increasingly fragmented residential listing market, and specifically private, off-market listings, which are favored by Compass, a brokerage behemoth. Compass is embroiled in more than half a dozen lawsuits with state and local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) involving listing rules and antitrust claims. 

"We want to ensure that for the American consumer, there's a complete data set that is capital T truth, that's reliable as to what is happening in the marketplace," said Leo Pareja, CEO of AGNT. "So whether it's MLSs fragmenting, pocket listings, walled gardens, whatever, the goal is to ensure that there's a complete data set for the American consumer, so buyers and sellers have the most amount of accurate information."

Those who want to join the platform can do so with no initial charge or fees. Pareja said the four founders are going to make the investment into the infrastructure and the technology. Brown Harris Stevens, Lamacchia Realty, Samson Properties and Windermere are listed as initial participants. 

"It's clearly a clap back to Compass, firstly," said Jonathan Miller, a longtime housing market analyst and director of markets at StreetMatrix, a housing data and analytics company. "And it's absolutely better because Compass is literally hiding listings from competitors by design."

Just after the announcement, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin posted a congratulatory message on X, saying that Compass is "excited that there will be a national real estate listing service that will return the power back to the creator of the listing — the homeowner and their trusted agent. This is good news for all agents and their clients, and we look forward to helping build the next chapter of listing services."

When asked, Reffkin declined to comment further.

Pareja's response to that: "We saw that, and we're grateful for his appreciation, and he's very much invited. We'd love to have him participate."

Close-up of an "under contract" real estate sign hanging in front yard of house

Grace Cary | Moment | Getty Images

But is it really open?

While Reffkin's response may seem odd, given that Compass supports private listings, there is one part of the Open Real Estate platform that does allow for exclusives. It's called "participant view." A property that goes into that view is put into a part of the database, "where only agents that are associated with participating brokerages can see it, and it cannot be publicly marketed by anyone, including the listing agent and the listing brokerage," according to Open Real Estate's website. 

Pareja says that option will be used sparingly and largely for high-profile, celebrity home sellers who are trying to protect their privacy.

The legal battles escalate

Reffkin's response came at the same time another MLS, New York's OneKey MLS, joined the California Regional Multiple Listing Service's federal lawsuit against Compass. The organizations are asking the court to firmly establish that rules protecting the shared, public marketing of listings are lawful and pro-competitive, according to a release. It followed OneKey's rejection of Compass's demands to dismantle local cooperation policies.

"This case raises questions that extend far beyond any one company or market," said Richard Haggerty, CEO of OneKey MLS in the release. "It goes to the core of how homes for sale are shared, how everyday buyers access that information, and how we protect a fair, equal housing market for everyone. We believe these issues demand clarity from the court, and joining CRMLS gives OneKey a direct, active voice in securing it." 

Separately, last month six regional MLSs representing more than 120,000 real estate professionals nationwide filed a joint federal lawsuit against Compass seeking to uphold rules that promote access to listings through publicly shared databases.

Pareja said the new database is not meant to replace MLSs and that it should not be seen as a national MLS.

"We are going to work with MLSs. We're going to work alongside them. We're not usurping. We're not replacing," he said.

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