Biggest US Real Estate Brokerage Braces for Its First Housing Downturn

Compass, which didn’t generate an annual profit in the latest real estate boom, is now facing pressure to rein in costs while continuing to grow.

Robert Reffkin
Photographer: Cate Dingley/Bloomberg

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By Patrick Clark and Jennifer Epstein

August 15, 2022 at 2:00 PM UTC

Updated on

August 15, 2022 at 3:00 PM UTC

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Robert Reffkin waltzed into the real estate world a decade ago, using connections honed as a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker to raise money for a technology-powered brokerage he promised would upend the industry.

His company, Compass Inc., spent more than $1 billion to become a go-to home seller in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, and rode the pandemic housing boom to an initial public offering. It sold more residential real estate last year than any other brokerage and its revenues made Reffkin one of the 10 youngest Fortune 500 chief executives and the only Black founder on the list.