Compass Acquires Pacific Union, Becoming California's Largest Residential Brokerage
Compass has acquired Pacific Union International, becoming the largest independent real estate brokerage in California and the third-largest in the country.
Compass started out as a New York-based hybrid residential brokerage and tech startup. After receiving $450M from investor SoftBank in December, it has focused on its goal of reaching 20% of market share in 20 markets by 2020.
With the acquisition of Pacific Union, the company will grow to 6,400 real estate professionals representing $28B in sales volume for 2017. This latest acquisition comes on the heels of Compass acquiring Paragon Real Estate in July, forming San Francisco’s largest residential brokerage firm.
Pacific Union was originally founded in 1975 and was acquired by CEO Mark A. McLaughlin in 2009. Since then, the company has grown from $2.1B in sales volume to $14.1B in 2017. Pacific Union has over 50 offices and about 1,700 real estate professionals in California.
Pacific Union underwent a recent acquisition spree, acquiring Partners Trust in Los Angeles in 2017 and John Aaroe Group in 2016. It also recently launched a commercial real estate division in Los Angeles, where it will focus on traditional asset classes such as multifamily, retail, hospitality, office and industrial.
Compass has committed to opening in the top 20 cities in the U.S. and expanding to over 65 offices this year. In addition to San Francisco and Los Angeles, Compass has offices in New York City; Orange County; San Diego; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; Dallas; Philadelphia; Aspen, Colorado; The Hamptons in New York; Miami; Westchester, New York; Greenwich, Connecticut; Naples, Florida; Santa Barbara; and Marin.
