BREAKING: Zillow regains access to listings from Chicago’s MLS

In a major — albeit temporary — legal victory for Zillow, a federal judge on Friday ordered the Chicago multiple listing service to restore the portal’s access to listings originating from the MLS, a Zillow spokesperson said. Inman.

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MRED MLS decided earlier this week to restrict Zillow’s access to its real estate listing data feed. These listings are the driving force behind Zillow and are viewed by hundreds of millions of consumers every month. The judge issued a temporary restraining order, preventing MRED from stopping its feed to Zillow, the spokesperson said, and the full range of listings was restored within hours of the verbal order.

Shortly after MRED removed Zillow’s feed, more than 60 percent of all active listings in Chicago disappeared from the platform. In MRED’s primary coverage area, which includes all of Illinois and parts of Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin, Zillow said in court documents that it lost more than half of all listings.

“Today’s ruling is an important first step for Chicago homebuyers, sellers and real estate agents harmed by a coordinated scheme between MRED and Compass to reduce transparency in the housing market,” a Zillow spokesperson said in a statement. “In the midst of the housing affordability crisis, powerful industry players conspired to hide listings, stifle competition and drive consumers toward a single dominant brokerage.”

“The court immediately recognized what was at stake, not just for Zillow, but for anyone trying to find or sell a home in Illinois and beyond,” the statement continued. “We will continue to fight to ensure that this anti-consumer behavior cannot take permanent root.”

MRED’s decision to drop Zillow’s feed led to a marketing blitz from Compass International Holdings, Redfin and others seeking to capitalize on the temporary drop in active listings on Zillow.

Other real estate platforms retained their access to the full range of MRED listings, gaining thousands more listings than Zillow while the feed was shut down.

The ruling comes in Zillow’s lawsuit against MRED and Compass, as the three companies battle over Zillow’s attempt to ban listings if they violate the portal’s Listing Access Standard. The standards prohibit listings from the portal if they were publicly marketed before reaching the MLS and Zillow.

Zillow introduced that policy last year and began enforcing it in response to a growing wave of brokers creating private listing networks — an effort driven in large part by Compass.

The judge’s ruling Friday, which has yet to be written and entered into the court docket, does not resolve Zillow’s larger claim that Compass conspired with MRED to boycott the portal over its pre-marketed listing rules.

In their own statements, Compass and MRED said Friday’s ruling was a mixed bag for Zillow.

“The central issue remains unchanged: Zillow wants the benefit of receiving MLS listing data and reserves the right to discriminate against certain legal listings, sellers and brokers whose marketing strategies it does not favor,” MRED said in a statement. “The court’s ruling makes clear that Zillow cannot ignore their licensing obligations and MRED’s reasonable rules, which benefit all participants in our cooperative marketplace and undermine the value of the MLS.”

Zillow has not enforced its policy on pre-marketed listings in Chicago and will not continue to enforce it in that market in the wake of Friday’s ruling, the company said.

MRED suspended Zillow’s feed after the portal enforced its rules and refused to show a total of nine listings from Compass agents in Florida, Georgia and California. These listings started out as private listings before eventually being widely distributed through the MLS.

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin told Inman in a text message that Zillow should actively display those nine listings on the platform.

“Why is Zillow fighting so hard to ban listings? Because they want to control how sellers and their agents market homes,” Reffkin wrote. “We have a problem with that, and so does the court. The judge orders that all nine banned compass listings be reinstated on Zillow and orders Zillow not to ban listings of MRED in the future!”

Update: This story has been updated after publication with additional statements and context.

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