Overview
- Zillow’s Listings Access Standards block homes from its site if they are not shared to a local MLS within a set window, and a banned listing can return only if the seller ends the relationship with the original agent and brokerage.
- Compass introduced internal Zillow materials describing private listings as a “contagion,” citing a “hardline plan” to keep sellers and agents on the portal and references to isolating perceived “bad actors.”
- Zillow’s counsel argued the policy advances transparent access for buyers, counters “dark pools” of inventory, and does not target one brokerage, adding that the company has no duty to carry a rival’s listings.
- Compass CEO Robert Reffkin testified that agents feel “bullied” by the ban, while cross-examination highlighted his emails downplaying Zillow’s importance and Compass’s claims of irreparable harm.
- The evidentiary hearing began Tuesday in Manhattan before Judge Jeannette Vargas, with testimony continuing through Friday and no ruling yet; expected witnesses include Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman.