Well, it looks like Compass is finding out that not everyone in the MLS industry is willing to give in to its demands. On October 20, 2026, OneKey MLS, which serves New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, announced it was rejecting Compass’s demands to change its rules regarding publicly marketed listings. OneKey joins California Regional MLS (CRMLS) and Texas-based Unlock MLS in standing up to Compass and defending the cooperative MLS system that has served buyers, sellers and real estate professionals for decades.
I’ve been following this battle closely and have written about Compass’s initial threats against CRMLS, CRMLS taking the offensive by filing suit against Compass, and most recently, Compass following through with its own federal antitrust lawsuit against CRMLS. Now, with OneKey taking a firm position, it’s becoming clear that this fight extends well beyond California.
What I particularly like about OneKey’s announcement is that it gets right to the heart of the issue. Compass claims this is about seller choice, but OneKey makes an important distinction between a seller choosing to keep a property private and a brokerage publicly advertising a home while withholding it from the MLS. Those are two very different things. As OneKey points out, allowing a brokerage to benefit from everyone else’s listings while keeping some of its own inventory out of the shared marketplace undermines the very cooperation that makes the MLS work.
OneKey also raised concerns about the financial impact on sellers and fair housing. It cited research indicating that homes marketed through the MLS generally achieve better financial outcomes than those sold off-market, along with concerns that private listing networks can restrict access to housing opportunities. Those are legitimate consumer issues that deserve considerably more attention than the marketing advantages Compass believes its private listing strategy provides.
I’ve said before that I believe the MLS is one of the most pro-consumer and pro-competitive parts of our industry. It gives small independent brokerages the ability to compete with the largest companies in the country and allows consumers to work with the agent of their choice without being limited to that agent’s company’s listings. I don’t see how allowing large brokerages to selectively withhold publicly marketed listings improves that system or benefits consumers.
I’m glad to see OneKey joining CRMLS and Unlock MLS in pushing back. This battle is far from over, particularly with the federal lawsuits now underway, but I hope more MLS organizations take the same position. In my opinion, the future of our industry should be built around greater transparency, cooperation and access to information, not giving the largest brokerages more control over which homes buyers get to see.
You can read OneKey MLS’s official response to Compass here.
