Rocket, Compass partnership aims to boost housing supply

By Tom Joyce
The Center Square

Rocket Companies and Compass International Holdings announced a three-year alliance this week designed to expand housing inventory on Redfin’s platform and provide sellers more flexibility in how they list their homes.

Rocket, the Detroit-based mortgage lender and parent company of Redfin, said Compass’ “Coming Soon” listings will now appear immediately on Redfin.com. “Private Exclusive” properties will soon follow.

The companies said the move could bring over 500,000 additional listings to Redfin through Compass’ network, which includes brands such as @properties, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, CENTURY 21, Christie’s International Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA, and Sotheby’s International Realty.

Through the partnership, sellers working with Compass can display homes on Redfin with no days on market, no price history, and no automated home valuation estimates. Listings remain compliant with Multiple Listing Service rules, the companies said.

“Some sellers want maximum exposure immediately,” Redfin said in a press release. “Others want to test pricing before going fully public. Some prefer privacy. Others do not want their home syndicated across thousands of websites that begin tracking negative insights like days on market and price history on day one.”

“Offering seller choice and making it easier to test the market without negative insights has the potential to increase overall inventory coming on the market, resulting in improved access and affordability for homebuyers,” the company added.

Rocket CEO Varun Krishna said supply remains the central problem.

“When barriers are removed, and supply grows, affordability improves,” Krishna said. “Today’s challenge is friction in the homebuying process and a lack of inventory. By bringing search, agents, and financing into one connected platform, we can help more sellers enter the market, reduce complexity for buyers, and make homeownership more attainable.”

Compass Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin said sellers want more control.

“We believe listing agents should be connected directly with interested buyers, and sellers should have the freedom to list their homes in the manner and method they choose without fear of misleading insights that damage its value,” Reffkin said.

Rocket also announced mortgage incentives for Compass clients, including a one-percentage-point interest-rate reduction for the first year of a loan or a lender credit of up to $6,000 to reduce upfront costs or first-year payments.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump has made housing affordability a focus of his second term.

“Mortgage rates are the lowest in four years and falling fast, and the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000 just since I took office,” Trump said during his State of the Union address.

“Low interest rates will solve the Biden-created housing problem while at the same time protecting the values of those people who already own a house,” he added.

Economists have long argued that expanding supply remains the most direct way to address housing costs.