A new filing from the top home search site denies wrongdoing, offering a detailed defense of its listings rules as it pushes back on the brokerage’s lawsuit.
Stephanie Reid-Simons4 mins
Zillow says a lawsuit filed by Compass is focused on protecting Compass, not consumers, and that Zillow is not required to change its listing standards simply because they conflict with another company's strategy.
"Compass cannot turn antitrust law on its head and compel Zillow to do business on Compass's preferred terms," the company argues in a July 17 court filing.
The brief, filed in the Southern District of New York, opposes Compass' request for a preliminary injunction against Zillow's listing rules. The policy, unveiled in April and now in effect, blocks listings from appearing on Zillow or Trulia if they've been publicly marketed but not shared with Zillow or an MLS within one business day.
Conversations, not conspiracy: Zillow's response presents declarations from top executives and outlines conversations with Redfin and eXp, two of the brokerages that support the policy — and which Compass cited as evidence of a possible conspiracy. But the filing characterizes those conversations as routine, last-minute heads-ups before launch, not collusion.
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman "was notified of the Listing Access Standards in a call the day before they were publicly announced," according to a declaration from Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman. "He asked a few clarifying questions, said he understood the policy, and said Redfin would likely adopt a similar policy." Redfin's standards were announced four days later.
In a separate declaration, Zillow Chief Industry Development Officer Errol Samuelson describes calling eXp leadership in advance of the rollout and later signing a two-part agreement: One part delivers listing feeds to Zillow, and the other commits eXp — but no one else — to following Zillow's listing rules. Compass listings continue to appear on eXp.
Zillow included the contract with eXp in the court filing and emphasized that the deal "has nothing to do with Compass."
What Zillow is saying: "While Compass has been waging a campaign against market transparency to the detriment of consumers and agents, Zillow, by contrast, has a long history of providing transparency and equal access to real estate information, to the benefit of consumers and agents," a Zillow spokesperson said. "We will not waver in that commitment. Their motion gets both the facts and the law wrong, and we will continue to defend against it to ensure that the integrity of a fair and competitive real estate marketplace remains intact."
Real Estate News has reached out to Compass for comment.
How we got here: Compass filed suit against Zillow on June 23 in response to Zillow's policy barring listings that are publicly marketed but not widely available via the MLS. A few days later, Compass sought a preliminary injunction barring Zillow from enforcing its new policy.
The suit argues that Compass' "3-Phased Marketing Strategy" poses "a significant threat to Zillow's home search monopoly" by allowing consumers to sell their homes via private listing, free of "negative insights" such as days on market.
Pushing back on 'monopoly' claims: Zillow's filing argues that strong traffic doesn't equal market power. Consumers use many sites, and Compass continues to grow, the filing notes. Zillow says it is directly responsible for fewer than 5% of the total home sale transactions in the United States.
How Zillow's listing standards work: As of May 28, agents who have listings that are deemed to be out of compliance with Zillow's Listings Access Standards will get a notification from the company. Starting June 30, "an agent's third non-compliant listing — and any subsequent non-compliant listings — will be blocked from Zillow and Trulia for the life of the listing agreement between that listing broker and seller," the company said.
At least one agent has had a listing affected by the policy, according to CoStar CEO Andy Florance, who said on June 16 that Homes.com had promoted its first listing barred by Zillow.
A Zillow rep told Real Estate News that the company is not disclosing the number of listings affected by the new standards.
The escalating private listings fight: Compass CEO Robert Reffkin's fight for private exclusives has multiple fronts, including in Seattle against leading local brokerage Windermere and NWMLS, which serves the region and was slapped with a lawsuit by Compass in April; in California against CRMLS, which has opted out of allowing a pre-marketing period; and more recently, in Chicago where the leaders of recently acquired @properties are echoing Reffkin's "seller choice" message.
