Zillow Pushes Back Hard Against Compass As Private-listing Battle Heads To Court

Zillow has filed a forceful defence of its ban on privately marketed listings, rejecting claims by brokerage giant Compass that the policy is harmful, anti-competitive, or coordinated with rival Redfin.

The filing comes ahead of a key hearing next week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where Compass is seeking a preliminary injunction to block Zillow from enforcing its Listing Access Standards policy.

Below: A summary of Zillow's legal headaches.

The policy, announced in April, bars residential listings from appearing on Zillow if they have been publicly marketed for more than 24 hours without first being shared with the MLS. It is a move understood to be countering Compass’s three-phase marketing strategy, which keeps some listings within Compass’s ecosystem before sending them to the MLSs and public portals.

Zillow argued that Compass cannot credibly claim “irreparable harm” while simultaneously reporting strong financial performance and pursuing a $1.6 billion acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate. “Compass cannot have it both ways,” the filing states. “Compass cannot tell this Court that it will be irreparably harmed, yet tell investors, agents, and customers the opposite.” Zillow pointed to Compass’s Q3 results, which included record revenue and agent recruitment, as evidence that the policy has not damaged the business.

The portal also defended the rationale behind its ban, warning that it does not want to become a repository for "stale bread"  (unwanted inventory). “The brokerage must provide something of value (a timely listing) in order to receive something valuable from Zillow (exposure to Zillow’s audience),” the company wrote.

Zillow again rejected Compass’s claims of collusion with Redfin, arguing that Redfin’s public support for the standards does not equate to conspiracy, especially given that, since being acquired by Rocket, Redfin has yet to actually implement a similar listings ban.

Rather than harming competition, Zillow said the standards improve it by ensuring broad listing visibility, increasing transparency for buyers, and preventing situations in which consumers miss out on homes marketed narrowly through private networks.

Zillow also challenged Compass’s position that its three-phase marketing strategy (referred to as 3PM) offers meaningful benefits to sellers.

“It doesn’t take a monopolist to dampen enthusiasm for 3PM; it just takes a home search platform whose audience is more valuable than whatever marginal benefits 3PM offers,”

The hearing next week will determine whether Compass can temporarily halt enforcement of the policy while the broader lawsuit proceeds.