Property listings platform Zillow is being sued by real estate brokerage firm Compass over its new policy of banning private listings, as well as allegedly violating federal antitrust laws.

In April, Zillow announced that it would introduce a new policy, permanently banning any home listing that was not added to the Multiple Listing Service within the first 24 hours of the home being available on the market.

According to The New York Times, Compass filed the suit alleging that Zillow engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy to maintain a monopoly over digital home listings.

Toward the end of 2024, Compass suggested that sellers use a three-phased marketing approach when listing a home. They could make the home visible only to Compass agents and clients as a “private” listing, or they could make it viewable only via Compass’ website. Alternatively, they could opt to make it public on sites like Zillow and Redfin further down in the process.

This approach led to Zillow pushing back, asserting in a statement that “a listing marketed to any buyer should be marketed to every buyer. This means in the MLS, on Zillow, and even on non-Zillow portals or brokerage sites.”

In the suit, Compass alleged that “to protect its market dominance, Zillow retaliated against competitive threats by enacting an exclusionary policy,” adding that Zillow cannot generate revenue when homes are not publicly listed, and it is using the “Zillow Ban” to block its competitors from participating on a level playing field.

Speaking to the Times, Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin said, “No one company should have the power to ban agents or listings simply because they don’t follow that company’s business model. That’s not competition. It’s coercion. Consumers should have the right to choose how they sell their homes.”

For its part, Zillow is adhering to a 2019 policy, as set by the National Association of Realtors, which required agents to enter any new home for sale into a public listing database, called an MLS feed, within 24 hours of advertising it.