Compass is opening another front in its fight with Zillow, pursuing complaints with state regulators, Realtor associations and multiple listing services over the portal’s listing access standards and its treatment of homes excluded from Zillow under the policy.
The complaints span 26 states, 55 MLSs and 30 Realtor associations, a Compass spokesperson confirmed to Inman, adding that some of the complaints have already been filed, while others are still in the process of being submitted.
“When sellers choose to publicly market their homes and make them available to the broadest possible audience, Zillow is keeping those listings from buyers because they were not initially prioritized on Zillow,” the spokesperson said over email. “In some cases, Zillow is displaying active, publicly available listings as not for sale.”
Compass said it believes the practice amounts to false advertising that misleads consumers and prevents buyers from finding homes that sellers have intentionally made available to the market.
The complaints represent a more decentralized escalation in the companies’ ongoing dispute, moving the fight beyond federal court and into state regulatory agencies, local Realtor associations and MLS compliance systems.
Compass said the state-level complaints concern alleged false advertising, while the MLS complaints raise potential violations of listing-display and IDX rules. The precise allegations and procedures may vary by jurisdiction.
Active listings labeled off market
Compass provided Inman with two properties it said had been excluded under Zillow’s listing access standards. Inman confirmed that both were shown as active or pending on Redfin while Zillow labeled them off market.
Zillow subsequently confirmed that both properties had been blocked under the policy and said the rule applies uniformly to listings from all brokerages.
One of the properties, 101 Spyglass Lane in Half Moon Bay, California, was listed for sale on Redfin for $4.35 million. Zillow described the property as off market and said it was not currently listed for sale or rent on Zillow.
A second property, 743 Orange Ave. in San Carlos, California, was shown as pending on Redfin for nearly $2.69 million. Zillow similarly labeled the property off market. Zillow’s property pages note that the status displayed on its site may differ from information available through other websites or public sources.
“It’s not surprising that Compass, a defendant in our federal antitrust lawsuit, is looking for additional venues to fight the same battle it’s losing in court,” a Zillow spokesperson said in an email to Inman.
“Compass’ business model depends on keeping listings off the public market first, so they are the one limiting reach and later wanting Zillow to cover for their scheme. That’s not false advertising, it’s standing up for a fair and transparent housing market.”
Zillow said its policy applies to listings that are publicly marketed only after first being offered to a narrower audience, arguing that agents who market homes publicly from the outset can reach buyers on Zillow. The company said it would not compromise on its requirement that publicly marketed listings be made broadly available.
Complaints follow courtroom fight
The complaints follow a two-day preliminary injunction hearing earlier this month in Chicago involving Zillow, Compass and Midwest Real Estate Data.
Zillow is seeking an injunction requiring MRED to continue providing it with listing data. The portal has accused MRED and Compass of conspiring to use MLS rules to undermine Zillow’s listing access standards and expand Compass’ private-listing strategy.
MRED and Compass have denied those claims, arguing that Zillow created the dispute by refusing to comply with longstanding MLS display rules.
During the first day of the hearing, Compass attorney Alec Solotorovsky cited Zillow’s interrogatory response and said that of 1,390 listings the portal had refused to display under the standards since March 1, 2025, all but eight were Compass listings.
Zillow executive Errol Samuelson said he assumed Solotorovsky had counted correctly but rejected the suggestion that the standards were designed to target Compass. Samuelson argued that the disparity reflected Compass’ decision to institutionalize a marketing strategy that includes private and premarket listings.
Compass CEO Robert Reffkin echoed the figures during the second day of testimony, saying roughly 99 percent of Zillow’s bans had affected Compass listings even though the brokerage accounts for about 5 percent of listings nationally.
Reffkin also testified that the only way a seller whose listing had been blocked could return to Zillow was to fire both the agent and brokerage and relist with another firm.
Zillow confirmed to Inman on Tuesday that a listing blocked under the policy can become eligible for display again if the seller changes agents or brokerages. The company said the rule applies to listings from every brokerage.
A broader pressure campaign
The new complaints appear to formalize a broader effort by Compass to push MLSs and other industry bodies to challenge Zillow’s standards.
That campaign surfaced during the Chicago hearing, where Zillow introduced communications showing Reffkin urging other MLSs to adopt rules similar to MRED’s and take a harder line against the portal.
In one exchange discussed in court, Reffkin encouraged Bright MLS to adopt MRED-style language and warn Zillow that it could lose access to the MLS’s IDX feed. Bright declined to intervene and said it would continue enforcing its existing rules without taking sides.
Reffkin also testified that Zillow’s lawsuit was intended to deter other MLSs from following MRED’s lead. In an email read aloud during the hearing, he accused most MLSs other than MRED and Realtracs of failing to enforce their rules.
Introduced last year, Zillow’s listing access standards generally bar listings from appearing on the portal if they were publicly marketed for more than one business day before becoming available through broadly accessible listing feeds.
Compass sued Zillow over the standards last year but voluntarily dismissed the case in March after Zillow modified portions of the policy. The companies’ conflict has since continued through the MRED litigation, MLS policy disputes and now a planned series of complaints across dozens of jurisdictions.
