II. Mechanics of Real Estate Data Control

ZILLOW’S MARKET POWER AND “ZILLOW PREVIEW” 

Zillow operates a dominant chokepoint in the U.S. housing market, with 70% of everyone who buys or sells a home using the portal in this process. This reach gives Zillow significant leverage over agents, brokerages, and prospective homebuyers alike. Weeks before filing, Zillow launched Zillow Preview, signing exclusive agreements with more than 60 major brokerages, including industry giants RE/MAX and Keller Williams Realty. Under this arrangement, Zillow and subsidiary Trulia would be able to carry new listings before MLS submission. This exclusivity agreement would leave said submissions inaccessible to competing platforms for an indefinite period, which raises clear anti-competitive concerns.
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​In addition to these deals, Zillow also signed a separate agreement with Realtor.com, whereby it would be the sole additional platform permitted to publish these listings. Zillow and Realtor.com combined reach some three-quarters of major real estate portal visitors, and this exclusivity agreement stands to prevent meaningful competition. Competition advocates have characterized the arrangement as a de facto private listing network that concentrates access to the most time-sensitive inventory in the hands of a single dominant platform.

DECEPTIVE STEERING PRACTICES

Zillow’s harm to consumers extends beyond restricted listing access. When buyers click "Contact Agent" on Zillow, they are not connected to the listing agent, but are instead routed to a buyer's broker who pays Zillow up to 40 percent of the commission at closing. This deceptive practice has proven effective, with a controlled study by Wharton marketing professor Jerry Wind finding less than one percent of consumers understood this arrangement.

Prospective buyers are then steered to Zillow’s own Zillow Home Loans (ZHL) service, a tactic reminiscent of “self-preferencing” practices by large technology companies. Independent research has found Zillow Home Loans to be more expensive than comparable products, with the largest cost burdens falling disproportionately on veterans, lower-income borrowers, and Black borrowers. Zillow currently faces a class action lawsuit over ZHL, with plaintiffs alleging violations of homebuyers’ rights and inflated home-buying costs.

III. Conclusion

It is notable that, as part of its new lawsuit, Zillow is requesting that a judge compels a nonprofit MLS to provide access to its entire listing database, even as it excludes the same MLS’s listings from Zillow Preview. This shows that, though Zillow has framed the lawsuit as an effort to ensure transparency, the company is instead seeking to establish a standard of openness that applies to everyone but itself. One real estate analyst described the lawsuit as Zillow sending a warning to every MLS in the country to cooperate with the company’s expansion or face litigation. This behavior aligns with Zillow’s documented history of abusing platform rules and exclusivity agreements to consolidate its own power. ​

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From reliably Democratic-voting big cities to Republican strongholds in rural and exurban America, rising rental prices and declining homeownership opportunities continue to cause widespread economic strain. Amid this multi-faceted national housing crisis, it is notable that states including New York are working to prohibit private home listings that are unavailable to the public. This follows successful efforts in both Connecticut and the state of Washington earlier in 2026. Alongside other needed reforms, cracking down on hidden listings will help empower prospective homebuyers who currently face a distorted market.