NYC Brokerage Coldwell Banker Warburg Joins Compass

Coldwell Banker’s presence in New York is shrinking under the Compass umbrella.

Coldwell Banker Warburg is folding into the Compass brand, The Real Deal has learned. It’s unclear when the transition, which will end Coldwell Banker’s owned brokerage operations in the city after just five years, will take effect.

Coldwell Banker Warburg agents learned of the plan in an internal announcement last week.

Agents will operate as “Warburg at Compass,” according to a Compass spokesperson, who said in a statement that the firm was “excited” to add Warburg’s agents to Compass’ New York City operations.

The addition represents a consolidation of Compass’ market power in the city, where it has already expanded significantly through its addition of brands like Coldwell Banker, Corcoran and Sotheby’s International Realty through its $1.6 billion acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate earlier this year.

Compass ranked as the top brokerage in Manhattan in TRD’s 2026 rankings based on closed, sell-side sales volume with $5.7 billion in sales. Coldwell Banker Warburg ranked eighth with $243 million in sales.

The move also raises questions about further consolidation among the other brands now under Compass International Holdings, the parent company formed through its deal for Anywhere.

When the deal closed, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said the firms would continue to operate as distinct brands. The brokerage giant has made some hints at standardization across brands in the name of information-sharing, such as offering its technology platform to other brokerages in its ecosystem, but moving agents from one brokerage brand to another represents a new milestone for brand consolidation.

The move also has echoes of how Compass handled its 2019 acquisition of Stribling, a New York City brokerage that marked Compass’ first addition in the Big Apple. Initially billed as “Stribling at Compass,” the firm’s former name was quietly removed later on.

Coldwell Banker Warburg joins Compass amid increasing antitrust scrutiny in the wake of its deal for Anywhere. TRD reported in June that the antitrust division of the New York Attorney General’s Office was investigating Compass’ footprint in the New York market.

Earlier this week, a subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives requested a briefing from Reffkin over Compass’ partnership with Chicago-based Midwest Real Estate Data and Compass’ increasing efforts around marketing homes off of major consumer-facing platforms like Zillow.

Coldwell Banker Warburg regional vice president Kevelyn Guzman, who took over at the brokerage in 2023, will stay on as a managing director, a Compass spokesperson confirmed. It’s unclear if the firm will maintain its offices in Dumbo and on the Upper East Side.

Coldwell Banker, which oversees owned brokerage and franchise operations, established its owned-brokerage footprint in the city when it acquired Warburg Realty in 2021. Founder Frederick Warburg Peters stayed on as president of Coldwell Banker Warburg before handing over the reins to Guzman two years later. Peters left Coldwell Banker Warburg for Brown Harris Stevens last year.

The move comes just months after Coldwell Banker’s largest New York City-based franchise broke away from the Compass ecosystem entirely. The group formerly known as Coldwell Banker Reliable Real Estate disaffiliated from the franchise brand and launched an independent brokerage, MYNY.

MYNY principal Joseph Hamdan said in April that he felt there was a lot of “sameness” across the brands after Compass’ deal for Anywhere, and that he expected local consolidation at some point.

“If you’re in South Florida and there’s a Compass on a block and Coldwell Banker Realty on another block, does it make sense to keep that office, or do you move your agents into a Compass office,” he said.

Coldwell Banker will maintain a presence in the city through its franchise affiliate, Coldwell Banker American Homes, although the group does not have any offices in New York City. The group ranked 12th in TRD’s ranking of top Queens brokerages with $83 million in closed, sell-side volume last year.