Some homebuyers have been getting early access to listings the rest of us couldn't see. A major shakeup in real estate just changed that

At the heart of the fight was who decides where a home can be listed online: the real estate broker representing the seller, or the platform where buyers search for homes?

The outcome could reshape how buyers find homes and how sellers market them.

The fight over hidden listings

The clash began last summer when Zillow rolled out new rules for how homes could appear on its platform. Under the policy, any property that was publicly marketed had to be listed on Zillow within one business day, or it wouldn’t be shown on the site at all.

Zillow said the change was meant to prevent agents from keeping listings inside private networks or brokerage-only databases that regular homebuyers can’t access.

But Compass, the world’s largest brokerage after acquiring Anywhere Real Estate, pushed back. The company argued the rule limited how agents could market homes.

Compass took Zillow to court last June, dubbing the policy the “Zillow Ban,” and argued the rule was anticompetitive and designed to squeeze out rivals in the competitive online home-search market (2).

Compass uses a three-stage marketing strategy for sellers:

• Private Exclusive — listings that only Compass agents and clients can view
• Coming Soon — limited public exposure
• Full public listing on the MLS and major portals

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin championed the strategy, encouraging agents to promote homes through select channels first before eventually listing them on major platforms like Zillow.

On the other hand, Zillow countered that this strategy fragments information and can hide homes from buyers who aren’t connected to the right agents.

Zillow has now introduced a fresh approach with a feature called Zillow Preview, which will let brokerages share “coming soon” listings directly on Zillow and Trulia before they appear on the MLS. Brokerages including Keller Williams and RE/MAX have already agreed to participate.

After the announcement, Compass dropped its lawsuit.

Zillow says it still won’t display listings that are hidden behind registration walls or require buyers to work with a specific brokerage.

"It's the hiding of the listings that we think causes damage to buyers and sellers, and the marketplace," said Errol Samuelson, Zillow's chief industry development officer, before the rule changes were announced (1).

What is at stake is the most valuable currency in real estate: listing data.

For decades, buyers with connections, those working with well-connected agents or brokerages that circulated homes privately would get access to early listings.

Consumer advocates are also pushing alongside Zillow to keep home listings widely available online.

Two recent lawsuits “seek to deny consumer choice by limiting buyer access to all listings and seller opportunities to reach the greatest number of potential buyers,” said Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Policy Center (3).

What buyers should know

Starting in April, Zillow Preview will begin showing some “coming soon” listings for homes before they officially hit the market.

This could mean:

• Earlier access to listings before they are published on MLS
• More online listings for homes that are “coming soon”
• Potentially more sites to check and browse as portals compete for listings

For buyers in competitive markets, even a few extra days of visibility could make a difference.

But it also raises a new question: will the advantage simply shift from brokerage insiders to the people who refresh Zillow most often?

What sellers should know

Sellers may now have more flexibility to: