Exclusive | Why you might only be seeing a fraction of homes for sale in Manhattan and its costing sellers tens of thousands

You’re supposed to be able to find a home anywhere. But thanks to Compass’ acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate, you can only do that if you hire one of the conglomerate’s agents.The country’s largest independent real estate brokerage is using its weight — controlling 21.6% of the market nationwide, and up to 80% in major markets — to keep private listings off public databases, leaving clueless buyers out in the cold.“When a consumer sits down and uses a website like Streeteasy [in New York City], they don’t know if they’re getting all the listings,” Jonathan Miller, a housing analyst at StreetMatrix, told The Post.“And when you have the largest brokerage firm in the world putting a large amount of listings behind a paywall you’re forced to go through an agent of a particular company rather than anybody you want.

This is a major setback in the homebuying process to the 1950s.”Compass’ three-stage marketing pitch promises big gains for sellers.Listings start in-house with Compass’ 340,000 agents as a “Private Exclusive,” to test the market confidentially, move to a “Coming Soon” preview on select sites, and then go fully public.

According to Compass, skipping the immediate public launch helps homes sell 34% faster and fetch 4.6% more money.Compass, which declined to comment, markets the approach as a seller’s choice, providing a disclosure form about informed consent to wait to post their home on a Multiple Listing Service. But critics say the promise is a farce.“You cannot determine what a home is worth unless you expose it to the broader market,” James Dwiggins, CEO of Compass rival NextHome, told The Post.Also, Miller said, “Consumers don’t understand what a private listing is, what an MLS is.It’s just somebody you work with that says, ‘just do this.’”The practice — which some say allows Compass to “double-dip” by collecting a commission from both the buyer and the seller — carries massive implica...