Compass v. Zillow Update – Lawsuit Dismissed! Alliance Created!
This may (holding my breath) be my final article about the legal dispute saga between Compass Real Estate and Zillow, which erupted in the summer of 2025. You can find my previous articles regarding this topic here, here, here, here, and here to the extent you wish to have more background on the development of the dispute and the outcome of the preliminary injunction hearing.
In a nutshell, Compass created a private portal for its agents and their clients where real property sellers could engage in “pre-marketing” efforts to test the waters before listing to the public generally through the multiple listing service (MLS). Zillow, which gets substantial traction from the MLS policy of “clear cooperation”, which requires listings to show up on the MLS a day after being made available to the public, instituted its “Listing Access Standards” which banned listings that did not follow the policy of clear cooperation. Compass felt that this, effectively, targeted their private listings due to the delay before those listings would ultimately go to the public generally.
Compass sued Zillow claiming anticompetitive practices, and sought a preliminary injunction, which the District Court for the Southern District of New York denied, citing that Compass had not shown a strong likelihood of success on its antitrust claims.
On February 26th, Compass announced a 3-year alliance with Redfin, with the following general terms and/or benefits:
- Compass will have its “Coming Soon” listings immediately appear on Redfin. These listings purport to give ‘protection’ to sellers from ‘negative insights’ like days on market and price drop history. They now currently appear only on Compass and Redfin websites.
- Compass will then provide Redfin with its “Private Exclusive” real properties. It is estimated that over a half million additional listings will reach Redfin over the coming years.
- Compass expects to gain access to move than a million buyers over the next three years through Redfin.
- Redfin expects its associated “Rocket Mortgage” to gain access to Compass clients by providing them with preferred pricing, such as a 1% interest rate reduction for the first year of their mortgage, or otherwise, a lender credit of up to $6,000 towards costs/payments.
In the aftermath of this alliance, Zillow announced on March 17th, that it would amend its listing rules, indicating that it would no longer ban listings advertised on a “public-facing website, mobile app, or internet real estate portal.” In other words, Compass listings now complied with Zillow standards. The next day, Compass announced it would dismiss its lawsuit.
While the lawsuit has now concluded, and Compass, Zillow, and Redfin all currently have committed to playing nice with each other, the fundamental dispute over the push for private listings and the pushback for clear cooperation, still exists. It is unclear how the landscape of the online real estate marketplace will change in the light of these ever-shifting dynamics. We will certainly keep you posted on any developments.
The lawyers at Beresford Booth have significant experience with real estate transactions and disputes, including those involving the purchase and sale of residential and commercial real estate. If you need any legal assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please feel free to contact Beresford Booth at info@beresfordlaw.com or by phone at (425) 776-4100.