From Home-Finding Service to Global Mobility Firm
Cartus Corporation traces its roots back to 1955, when a small team in a modest office in Wilton, Connecticut began offering a single service: helping employees of relocating companies find homes in their new city. Then known as Associated Homefinders, and later renamed Homerica and Homequity before eventually becoming Cartus, the company has spent seventy years growing alongside the relocation needs of the corporations it serves.
A Business Built for a Globalizing Workforce
What began as domestic, cross-country moves within the United States evolved as corporate mobility itself became more international and complex. Cartus has managed international assignments of nearly every type since 1979 -- short-term, long-term, permanent, rotational, commuter, and hybrid arrangements -- reflecting how multinational employers now move talent across borders in far more varied ways than a single relocation model can capture.
Scale Built Over Decades
By its 60th anniversary in 2015, Cartus reported roughly 2,900 employees helping more than 171,000 transferees move to or from 149 countries in a single year. The company, now a subsidiary of Anywhere Real Estate Inc., says it currently serves clients across more than 160 countries with a team exceeding 4,000 mobility professionals, working with organizations ranging from Fortune 100 companies to smaller programs served through its Cartus Insignia division.
What the Business Actually Covers
Cartus's services span the full arc of a relocation: employee relocation support, immigration and visa assistance, destination services such as home and school search, household goods moving, talent mobility consulting, and a growing suite of mobility technology tools, including a centralized digital hub and predictive analytics aimed at forecasting relocation outcomes for corporate clients.
Marking 70 Years With New Investment, Not Just Reflection
Rather than treating its 2025 anniversary purely as a retrospective, Cartus used the milestone to announce a series of new initiatives: a Global Automated Tax Engine for compensation and tax compliance support, a new data insights dashboard, a streamlined client onboarding process, and a transportation partnership with ExpatRide offering eco-friendly relocation transport options. The company also entered a partnership with Move for Hunger, tying relocation activity to food-insecurity donations.
Why This Matters for Expats
For individual expats and assignees, companies like Cartus operate largely behind the scenes -- most relocating employees interact with relocation management companies through their employer's HR or mobility team rather than choosing one directly. Understanding what a relocation management company actually does, however, helps clarify which parts of a move -- visa processing, home search, household goods shipping -- are typically handled through employer-arranged services versus what an individual needs to manage independently.