Many industry players raised their eyebrows at how quickly the Compass-Anywhere merger was approved. Now, lawmakers are also asking the Justice Department to take a new look at the deal, according to a letter sent to the department from the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The letter — which is addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi and signed by 18 members of Congress — asks for more information about the DOJ’s review of the merger, which it says was cleared “under extraordinarily questionable circumstances.”
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The letter cites a report by The Wall Street Journal that stated antitrust division head Gail Slater had wanted to launch an extended review of the deal to determine whether it was anticompetitive. But, the Journal reported, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche overruled Slater when Compass attorneys appealed to his office, which subsequently approved the transaction.
Slater stepped down from the DOJ last week, but the lawmakers’ letter noted she was “forced out,” according to various reports.
“This decision raises questions about corruption under your watch and its impact on housing affordability for American families,” the letter states. “Allowing this merger will make it easier for these firms to exert greater control over the real estate market, limit consumer access and choice, and ultimately exacerbate the housing crisis that has put homeownership out of reach for millions of Americans.”
Compass did not immediately respond to Inman’s request for comment on the letter. News of the letter was first reported by HousingWire.
Consolidation within the industry hinders consumers’ ability to negotiate agent commissions, the letter added, and access to greater inventory options is also being curbed through the growing use of private listing networks, a practice “widely adopted by Compass,” two factors which have the potential to inflate housing costs for Americans.
Typically, mergers trigger a 30-day waiting period at the DOJ’s antitrust division, the letter explained, which can be extended to allow for further evaluation. In this case, however, Blanche cleared the transaction without the review after Trump-aligned Compass lawyer Mike Davis made the company’s case to Blanche’s office, per The WSJ’s report.
“The fact pattern reported in the Compass-Anywhere deal is deeply disturbing, indicating that it may be another example of well-connected industries and lobbyists obtaining inside access to high-level Trump Administration DOJ officials, and using this access to pervert the antitrust process to obtain approval of anticompetitive mergers that will reduce competition and harm the public,” the lawmakers wrote.
Lawmakers also noted that the Compass-Anywhere transaction is not the first that they raised concerns about to the DOJ, citing the Hewlett Packard-Juniper merger, which closed in July 2025.
The letter closed with 17 questions submitted to Bondi “to help us understand the process that resulted in the Trump Justice Department rubber stamping the merger of two of the largest brokerages in the nation,” and asked that written answers be provided by March 5, 2026.
Senator Warren and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also wrote to the DOJ and FTC in December, asking them to “thoroughly investigate” the Compass-Anywhere deal due to antitrust and price manipulation concerns “that have been at the center of mounting litigation.”
View the full letter below:
