Zillow has had a busy legal calendar in 2025, with the real estate giant facing a growing pile of lawsuits — at least four major ones so far, including two heavyweight antitrust cases. The outcomes could shake up Zillow’s business model and shift power into the hands of homebuyers and sellers.
The Compass v. Zillow case
As of June 30, Zillow banned any publicly-marketed listing that is not entered to the MLS within at least 24 hours of becoming available. The MLS feeds listings to consumer platforms and allows agents to access detailed information about listings to find and show properties to potential buyers, acting as a funnel for the public listing pool. The suit filed by Compass alleges that Zillow’s ban stifles competitors and consumer choice by crowding out its competitors with different marketing tactics.
Compass uses a ‘three-phase marketing strategy’, the first of which offers access to exclusive listings only accessible to Compass agents and clients. These listings are then added to a “coming soon” category on Compass’ public platform, and then they are finally added to the MLS and other platforms like Zillow. This gatepost technique is central to Compass’s marketing strategy. Compass alleges the ban allows Zillow to fragment the market, restrict the ability to choose how homes are marketed, and maintain its status in the marketplace. Compass is also currently in the process of acquiring its key rival “Anywhere Real Estate”, a merger that would create the largest residential real estate brokerage in the world, a deal that many experts believe could position Compass to overtake Zillow.
Zillow called the claim “unfounded” and states that its policy is designed to avoid fragmentation and hidden listings in the market and to protect consumer choice by ensuring all publicly marketed listings are accessible to all agents and buyers.
On Oct. 7, a district court granted Zillow’s request to order Compass to turn over documents related to its acquisition of Anywhere, including all communications between Compass and Anywhere regarding Zillow’s ban and the lawsuit. Zillow believes that the acquisition of Anywhere could impact the ongoing antitrust litigation.
The FTC’s antitrust claims
On Sept. 30, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Zillow and Redfin, alleging that the companies have entered into a deal to suppress competitors like Compass from advertising listings on their sites.
The FTC alleges that the deal began in February, when Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to discourage competition between the giants in multifamily property advertising for up to nine years. In the deal, Redfin also allegedly agreed to migrate its customers to Zillow, increasing Zillow’s reach and allowing them to hold more of a monopoly of the online housing marketplace. In its initial filing, the FTC argues that the publicly-branded “partnership” between the two companies was actually a coordinated effort to eliminate competition, enabling Zillow to increase prices for property managers and renters.
“Renters want choices, and this partnership will deliver just that — more apartments available across more platforms,” said Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman in Feb. 2025 in a statement announcing their partnership. “What’s good for renters is good for our multifamily partners, too. This agreement will give them additional opportunities to connect with ready-to-move renters, helping them grow their businesses. Adding the Redfin sites to the Zillow Rentals Network helps us scale our impact and drive continued growth for our multifamily partners and our business.”
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman added in his statement alongside Wacksman’s: “This Zillow partnership will give Redfin visitors access to one of the largest and fastest-growing databases of rental listings. We believe it will increase our overall traffic and the profits from our rental business, letting us focus on what we do best: dazzling online listing search, paired with dazzling brokerage, lending and title service.”
Looking forward
Antitrust laws are notoriously difficult to litigate, due to extensive discovery periods, intricate economic and legal issues associated with them, and the fact that these cases involve many different parties across jurisdictions.
If Compass and the FTC’s claims are successful, Zillow’s market dominance could be severely disrupted and the online real estate industry could be entirely reshaped. Not only does Zillow face an operational and reputational risk, but growing tensions between tech platforms and the push for market competitions could have significant implications.
