According to HousingWire, a new antitrust lawsuit targeting Compass has now named Charles Lieberman as its lead plaintiff. The case claims that Compass removed rental listings from StreetEasy, the Zillow-owned platform, in a way that reduced options available to renters and artificially drove up both rental prices and broker fees in the New York City area. The original plaintiffs had voluntarily dismissed their claims, prompting the filing of this amended complaint with fresh representation.
The heart of the allegation centers on Compass's strategy of having its agents delist properties from StreetEasy and instead mark them with a "participant only" designation on the Real Estate Board of New York's listing service. This move prevents those properties from appearing on public-facing websites where renters typically search. When questioned, Compass defended the practice as a common marketing tactic used during slower months, arguing that listings remain visible to all licensed agents and their clients, just not to the general public browsing online portals.
Lieberman's own experience forms the basis of the lawsuit. He leased a Manhattan apartment in August 2025 for four thousand dollars monthly, but after broker fees were added, his actual cost jumped to forty-six hundred twenty dollars. When searching again a year later, he found far fewer publicly available options on StreetEasy and ended up resigning his lease at a higher price. The complaint argues that this reduction in visible inventory artificially inflated the rental market, forcing him to pay supracompetitive prices that wouldn't exist in a normally functioning competitive marketplace.
The lawsuit is pursuing class action status on behalf of all renters in the New York City metro area who entered leases beginning January first of this year through whenever the alleged anticompetitive behavior ends. There's also a separate proposed class for anyone who paid broker fees, either directly or indirectly, to Compass or its connected entities. Lieberman is demanding a jury trial and seeking both monetary damages and a court order to stop Compass from continuing these practices.
This action adds to mounting legal pressure on Compass, which is already defending against an antitrust suit filed by Zillow and facing scrutiny from the House Judiciary Committee regarding its partnership with Midwest Real Estate Data. Additionally, New York's attorney general is reportedly investigating the company's acquisition of Anywhere for possible antitrust violations.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area is that these kinds of regulatory and legal challenges affecting major national brokerages eventually ripple through our market. When listing visibility and transparency become flashpoints in other regions, it reminds us all why maintaining fair access to property information matters for every buyer and seller we work with.
