In a dramatic turn of events, two New York City renters have filed a class action lawsuit against Compass, the nation’s largest real estate brokerage. The plaintiffs, Peter Castaneda and Haley Gelfand, allege that Compass has created an artificial supply shock by delisting rental units from public platforms, thereby driving up rents in Manhattan.
The lawsuit, filed this week, claims that Compass controls over 80 percent of the rental unit listings in Manhattan, based on 2026 data. This dominance, the plaintiffs argue, allows Compass to dictate pricing for a significant portion of the city’s rental market.
Compass vs. Zillow: A Battle Over Listings
At the heart of the controversy is Compass’s decision to delist thousands of homes from Zillow, the popular free real estate platform. Zillow’s subsidiary, StreetEasy, is a go-to resource for New Yorkers seeking to find apartments without paying broker fees. However, Compass’s alleged strategy to hide listings from the public has forced more people to turn to brokers, thereby increasing revenue per transaction.
In response to Compass’s mass-delistings, Zillow introduced new standards to exclude private listings from its sites. This move was intended to curb the practice of hiding listings. However, Compass retaliated by filing an antitrust suit against Zillow, claiming that the platform was attempting to monopolize listings. The suit was voluntarily dismissed in March after a judge ruled that Compass was unlikely to succeed on the merits.
Regulatory Scrutiny and Antitrust Probes
Local and federal authorities have launched antitrust probes to investigate how Compass’s practices may be harming real estate markets. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has expressed concerns that Compass’s actions could create a two-tiered housing market where insiders pay for exclusive access to housing inventory and market data, while everyone else is shut out.
Blake Hunter Yagman, the attorney representing the renters, emphasized the severity of the situation. “When a titan of an industry decides to choke off supply of an essential good or service, like housing, the implications can be swiftly vast and severe,” he said. The lawsuit seeks to represent all New York City renters who have leased non-rent stabilized, multifamily residential real estate units from August 1, 2026, through the present.
The Impact on Rents and the Housing Market
The plaintiffs allege that Compass’s practices have already increased rents in New York City. For instance, Castaneda signed a lease for a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Manhattan this August for $5,270, which is significantly higher than the average/median asking rent price of $4,390 in that area just one month earlier. Gelfand also witnessed a similar price increase while using StreetEasy from July 2026 until she signed a lease in early August.
The complaint cites data showing that available rental units in New York have dropped by 40 percent in the past year. This decrease in supply has corresponded with a 3 percent increase in rental prices in June, which quickly doubled to a 6 percent increase in July as available units continued to decrease through August. The plaintiffs argue that Compass’s strategy has intentionally caused a surge in the price of rental units in New York City.
Zillow’s spokesperson weighed in on the class action complaint, stating, “When listings are deliberately hidden from public platforms, real consumers pay the price. This summer, New Yorkers have seen exactly that play out, with one dominant brokerage deciding which homes people get to see and further squeezing the NYC market during a housing crisis.”
The lawsuit seeks to hold Compass accountable for its alleged practices, which the plaintiffs argue are driving up housing costs and worsening inequalities in the housing market. The outcome of this case could have significant implications for the future of the real estate market in New York City and beyond.
