Compass acquires Paragon, seeks San Francisco & Southbay market supremacy

by Patrick Kearns | Inman Staff Writer

With the acquisition of Paragon Real Estate Group, Compass claims to be the top brokerage in sales volume in the Bay Area

Compass now claims to be the top brokerage by sales volume in the blistering hot real estate market of San Francisco. On Monday, the technology-focused brokerage announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based Paragon Real Estate Group, growing its Bay Area team to 500 agents representing more than $4.5 billion in sales volume last year.

 “As we began to look for ways to expand in San Francisco, the opportunity to pair Paragon and their agents’ expertise and close community ties across the entire Bay Area with the technology, marketing and support we provide to our agents at Compass, was an ideal one,” said Ori Allon, Compass’s founder and executive chairman, in a statement.

Paragon was originally founded in 2004 and was the 86th ranked brokerage on the Real Trends 500 with 1,591 transaction sides — good for third in the San Francisco market behind Pacific Union International and Zephyr Real Estate. Pacific Union Internationalclosed more than $14 billion in sales volume in the state of California last year according to Real Trends, but the company declined to provide a market-specific breakdown. 

In a statement, Paragon CEO Bob Dadkura praised Compass’s focus on technology as a main reason for joining the ever-growing company.

“Compass’s focus on arming their agents with world-class technology and support resonates with our commitment to continually providing outstanding service and advice to our clients,” Dadkura said. “Joining Compass’s impressive San Francisco team and national network of luxury brokers opens an array of new opportunities for our agents and the chance to be a part of the future of the real estate industry in San Francisco and beyond.”

Compass broke into the San Francisco market with a splash in September 2016, snatching up two of the market’s top agents — Malin Giddings, a top agent formerly with Coldwell Banker, and the agent team TeedHaze, led by Butch Haze and Rick Teed, a top team formerly with Sotheby’s International Realty.

The company has continued its impressive growth in recent weeks with acquisitions and expansions in Chicago and smaller markets in Florida and Tahoe — moving closer toward its stated goal of achieving 20 percent of market share in the top 20 markets in the country by 2020.

Compass currently has offices in: New York City; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; San Diego; Dallas; Miami; Orange County, California; the Hamptons in New York; Aspen; and Santa Barbara and Montecito, California. Seattle, Phoenix, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte and Philadelphia are all part of the company’s plans for expansion.