On Private Listings, Anywhere Will Be On The Right Side Of History, Ceo Says

Anywhere Real Estate is finally showing all its cards in the debate over Clear Cooperation Policy and listing transparency.

“Anywhere Real Estate is aggressively advocating for transparent and public distribution of nearly all listings, because we believe it is best for buyers to see all the inventory, and most critically, it helps sellers get the highest price for their home, full stop,” CEO Ryan Schnieder said during Anywhere’s Q1 2025 earnings call with investors and analysts.

“With the recent announcements by Zillow, Redfin and others intended to prevent certain private listings from ever appearing on their websites, we believe our strategic view gets even stronger. Specifically, I do not think that advising the vast majority of sellers to do a private risk listing and risk their property not getting displayed on some of the most prominent public portals is a winning strategy.”

Schneider said that Anywhere’s agents are only incentivized to do what is right for their client, even if another strategy would be more beneficial to their brokerage. 

Schneider said that Anywhere supports Zillow’s new and controversial listing policy. 

“The choice was Zillow’s and Redfin’s to make and if they don’t want to display listings that were private, then that’s their choice, but I think having your listings on public portals is a helpful thing in selling your house,” Schneider said. 

Schneider, however, acknowledged that there is a time and a place for private listings, and noted that Sotheby’s, Corcoran and Coldwell Banker Global Luxury all have private listing networks. 

“We sell private listings where it’s right for the customer. But it’s a pretty small share of those listings — it is really a niche thing and it skews more toward luxury listings,” he said.

As the debate surrounding CCP and private listings finally reaches the public, Schneider said that Anywhere has not seen an uptick in the number of private listings. He attributed this to Anywhere agents doing what is best for their customers.

While Schneider and Anywhere are strongly in favor of listing transparency, in order to not be caught flat-footed, he said the firm is working to build out private listing capabilities for its franchisees.

“We never want to be at a competitive disadvantage if private listings really do become more prevalent out there in the industry,” he said. 

Although Anywhere’s stance on private listings may not be in line with some rivals, Schneider said his firm will ultimately be on the right side of history. 

“You are likely to see the success with the end customer, not just in the near term on the current listing, but over time. I think you can probably talk a customer into doing something against their best interests once, but over time, those kinds of things tend to not be really sustainable business approaches,” Schneider said. “The more listings I can do exclusively, my brokerage makes more money, but that may not be the best thing for the customer and I think if you don’t do the best thing for the customer in the long term, businesses get into real trouble that way, as do industries.”

Anywhere executives also believe their commitment to listing transparency has helped the firm in recruiting. 

“Some of our recent recruiting success, which is, frankly, a lot better than it was a year ago, especially versus some of our bigger competitors, is partly because agents like the approach we’re taking to listings,” Schneider declared. 

Anywhere’s investors will have to hope that Schneider and his team are correct with their assertions because they are most likely hoping for an improved financial performance in the future. 

Despite recording a $78 million year-over-year increase in revenue to $1.2 billion, the firm still reported a $78 million net loss in Q1 2025, a $23 million improvement from a year prior. Additionally, Anywhere reported a negative free cash flow of $130 million.

These results came as transaction units were down roughly 4% annually, which was partially offset by an 11% increase in home sale prices. On the bright side, however, the firm reported $14 million in cost savings and executives say it is on track to deliver $100 million in cost savings for the full year 2025.