• by Tanya Gazdik , 9 hours ago

Real estate brokerage Compass is accusing Zillow of gatekeeping online home listings and breaking federal antitrust laws.

The suit was filed today in New York federal court. It claims that Zillow is engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy to maintain a monopoly over digital home listings. 

“The lawsuit between two industry heavyweights marks a significant escalation in an ever-raucous debate over who controls home listings,” according to The New York Times. “Brokerages like Compass have sought to find ways to make their listings stand out: Since November, the company has been heavily promoting its Private Exclusives, a marketing channel of about 7,000 home listings available only to Compass agents and the buyers working with them.”

Zillow announced in April that any home that was put on the market but not available for listing on Zillow within 24 hours would be "forever banned" from its site.

“Compass says that Zillow has implemented an exclusionary policy that says if a home seller and their real estate agent market their property off Zillow for more than one day, that Zillow and its allies, Redfin and eXp Realty, will ban that home from being listed on their search platforms,” according to The Associated Press. “Compass alleges that the ‘Zillow Ban’ was enacted to prevent rivals from competing against it and reduces homeowner choice.”

Zillow has a database with about 160 million properties and receives about 227 million unique visitors every month.

“In a release written for agents, Zillow stresses its principle that ‘If a listing is marketed to some buyers, it should be marketed to all buyers,’” according to House Beautiful. “However, Compass is arguing that Zillow’s new guidelines invalidate this claim."

As of June 30, Zillow will begin blocking listings that do not comply with its standards. Online real estate portals are a huge part of the home-buying process, with nearly all buyers reporting that they use the internet in their home searches. 

“This lawsuit is about protecting consumer choice,” said Robert Reffkin, Compass founder and CEO, in a statement to Fast Company. “No one company should have the power to ban agents or listings simply because they don’t follow that company’s business model,” he added. “Consumers should have the right to choose how they sell their homes.”