Zillow lost access to thousands of property listings in Chicago after accusing a private listing network and a major brokerage of colluding to hide homes from buyers.
According to Zillow, Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) and Compass have conspired to create barriers to information that harm or threaten harm to sellers, buyers, and competitors by hiding real estate listings behind a registration wall in their Private Listing Network (PLNs).
The lawsuit alleges that MRED entered into this conspiracy with the dominant brokerage in Chicago to block platforms like Zillow from taking steps to increase transparency of available listings. Compass is accused of seeking anticompetitively to benefit from its dominance by hiding listings and maximizing profit through deals where agents represent both sides of the transaction.
Thorough home buyers can still find listings on other platforms, such as Redfin and Realtor.com, which currently host between 5,000 and 8,000 listings. However, Zillow claims that everybody buying or selling a home will be harmed if this alleged collusion goes unchecked.
