Zillow loses thousands of listings in fight over “hidden” homes
Zillow loses thousands of listings in fight over “hidden” homes
Zillow 在“隐藏”房源之争中失去数千条挂牌信息
On Wednesday, Zillow abruptly lost access to thousands of property listings in the Chicago area after filing a lawsuit accusing a private listing network owner of colluding with the nation’s largest brokerage to harm consumers by hiding homes. 周三，Zillow 在芝加哥地区突然失去了数千条房源信息的访问权限。此前，Zillow 提起诉讼，指控一家私人房源网络的所有者与全美最大的经纪公司串通，通过隐藏房源来损害消费者利益。
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, hopeful Chicagoland home buyers browsing Zillow and Trulia suddenly saw significantly fewer listings. On Zillow, a nearly 5,000-home market dropped to about 1,700. Thorough home buyers diligently checking every possible resource can still turn to other platforms, like Redfin and Realtor.com, which currently host between 5,000 and 8,000 listings, the Sun-Times noted. 据《芝加哥太阳时报》报道，在 Zillow 和 Trulia 上浏览房源的芝加哥地区购房者突然发现挂牌数量大幅减少。在 Zillow 上，该市场原本近 5,000 套房源的规模缩减至约 1,700 套。《太阳时报》指出，那些仔细核对每一个可能渠道的购房者仍可转向其他平台，如 Redfin 和 Realtor.com，这些平台目前仍拥有 5,000 到 8,000 条房源信息。
But in an antitrust lawsuit filed last week, Zillow claimed that everybody buying or selling a home will be harmed if the alleged collusion goes unchecked. Specifically, Zillow alleged that Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) and Compass, two “powerful players in the real estate industry,” have conspired to create “barriers to information that harm or threaten harm to sellers, buyers, and competitors by hiding real estate listings behind a velvet rope in a Private Listing Network (PLNs).” 但在上周提起的一项反垄断诉讼中，Zillow 声称，如果这种所谓的串通行为得不到遏制，所有买卖房屋的人都将受到伤害。具体而言，Zillow 指控房地产行业的两家“重量级参与者”——中西部房地产数据公司 (MRED) 和 Compass——合谋制造“信息壁垒”，通过将房源隐藏在“私人房源网络 (PLN)”的“天鹅绒绳”之后，损害或威胁到卖家、买家及竞争对手的利益。
As Zillow has alleged, MRED—Chicago’s multiple listing service (MLS) provider—“entered into a conspiracy” with Compass—Chicago’s dominant brokerage—to block platforms like Zillow from taking steps to increase transparency of available listings in the area. 正如 Zillow 所指控的那样，芝加哥的多重上市服务 (MLS) 提供商 MRED 与芝加哥的主导经纪公司 Compass “达成共谋”，旨在阻止 Zillow 等平台采取措施提高该地区房源的透明度。
“Rather than share all of its listings transparently—as its competitors do—Compass has sought to anticompetitively benefit from its dominance by hiding listings from anyone who is not working with a Compass agent in a PLN,” Zillow’s complaint alleged. This allegedly “allows Compass to lure prospective home buyers to its brokerage with the promise of access to listings hidden behind a registration wall” and then maximize opportunity for profit by engineering “deals where its agents represent both sides of the transaction.” Zillow 在诉状中称：“Compass 没有像竞争对手那样透明地分享所有房源，而是试图通过向非 Compass 代理人的任何人隐藏 PLN 中的房源，从而从其市场主导地位中获取反竞争利益。”据称，这“使得 Compass 能够以提供访问隐藏在注册墙后的房源为诱饵，吸引潜在购房者”，并通过策划“由其代理人代表交易双方的交易”来最大化利润空间。
In a statement to Ars, Zillow said that “Chicagoland home buyers and sellers today have far worse access to the housing market than they had yesterday, because their local MLS decided one mega-brokerage’s profits mattered more than their ability to achieve the American Dream.” Zillow has requested a preliminary injunction to end the suppression of listings and other unlawful attempts to allegedly manipulate the home-buying market to disadvantage platforms that are pushing for more transparency. Zillow 在给 Ars 的声明中表示：“芝加哥地区的购房者和卖家今天获取住房市场的渠道比昨天差得多，因为当地的 MLS 认为一家大型经纪公司的利润比他们实现‘美国梦’的能力更重要。”Zillow 已申请初步禁令，旨在结束这种对房源的压制，以及其他旨在操纵购房市场、从而损害那些推动更高透明度平台的非法企图。
Firms defend private listings
相关公司为私人房源辩护
Challenging that, MRED has recently moved to force the legal fight into arbitration, alleging that Zillow’s antitrust claims are “meritless” and amount to little more than a contract dispute. The company also claimed that Zillow’s alleged harms are “self-inflicted,” since the platform knew that choosing to block nine listings of previously hidden homes would trigger a violation cutting off access to 43,000 listings. 对此，MRED 最近采取行动，试图将这场法律纠纷强制转入仲裁程序，声称 Zillow 的反垄断指控“毫无根据”，本质上不过是一场合同纠纷。该公司还声称，Zillow 所述的损害是“自找的”，因为该平台明知选择屏蔽 9 条此前被隐藏的房源信息，将触发违规条款，导致其失去对 43,000 条房源的访问权限。
In a press release, MRED said that Zillow lost access to its listings due to breaching its contract. The company also criticized Zillow, writing that “in a striking lesson in irony, Zillow has chosen not to display 43,000 MRED listings because it demands the right, and has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit to secure that right—to exclude nine listings it disfavors.” MRED 在一份新闻稿中表示，Zillow 因违反合同而失去了对其房源的访问权限。该公司还批评 Zillow 道：“这是一个极具讽刺意味的教训：Zillow 选择不展示 43,000 条 MRED 房源，因为它要求拥有排除其不喜欢的 9 条房源的权利，并为此提起了联邦反垄断诉讼以确保这一权利。”
Asked for comment, Compass told Ars that the legal fight “is about whether homeowners have a choice in how they market their homes, or whether Zillow can set a one-size-fits-all policy for the industry.” “Restricting listing visibility and penalizing agents for exercising lawful and strategic marketing options undermines consumer choice,” Compass said. 在被要求置评时，Compass 告诉 Ars，这场法律斗争“关乎房主是否有权选择如何推销自己的房屋，还是说 Zillow 可以为整个行业制定‘一刀切’的政策”。Compass 表示：“限制房源可见性并惩罚那些行使合法且战略性营销选择的代理人，是在损害消费者的选择权。”
Defending sellers’ choice in how they market their homes, Compass said that it commends MRED for “enforcing policies that protect both consumer choice and the fiduciary obligations agents owe their clients. Buyers in Chicago should not be deprived of access to listings because a platform disagrees with how a homeowner chooses to market their property.” Compass 为卖家选择营销房屋的方式辩护，并表示赞赏 MRED “执行保护消费者选择权以及代理人对其客户所负信托义务的政策。芝加哥的买家不应因为某个平台不同意房主选择的营销方式，就被剥夺获取房源信息的权利。”
Zillow Preview launch complicates fight
Zillow Preview 的推出使局势复杂化
The real estate industry fight escalated in April 2025, when Zillow claimed that it “took a competitive stand” to protect consumers by adopting new Listing Access Standards designed to throw a wrench in schemes like the alleged MRED/Compass conspiracy. Zillow hoped that by threatening to block “listings that had been previously marketed privately to only a select group of buyers and were withheld from all market participants” from appearing on its websites, the market might shift to hide fewer listings. 房地产行业的这场争斗在 2025 年 4 月升级，当时 Zillow 声称其采取了“竞争立场”来保护消费者，通过采用新的《房源访问标准》，旨在破坏诸如 MRED/Compass 涉嫌共谋之类的计划。Zillow 希望通过威胁禁止“此前仅向特定买家群体私下推销并对所有市场参与者隐瞒的房源”出现在其网站上，从而促使市场减少隐藏房源的行为。
But after Compass failed to secure an injunction blocking Zillow’s new policy, Compass and MRED allegedly teamed up “to threaten loss of access to all of MRED’s listings if a competitor did not display one of MRED’s or Compass’s competing PLN listings,” Zillow claimed. They did this, Zillow alleged, understanding that Zillow cannot afford to lose access to all Chicago-area listings and would have to revert to its prior standards. And they soon followed through on that threat. 但 Zillow 声称，在 Compass 未能获得禁令以阻止 Zillow 的新政策后，Compass 和 MRED 涉嫌联手“威胁称，如果竞争对手不展示 MRED 或 Compass 的竞争性 PLN 房源，就将切断其对所有 MRED 房源的访问权限”。Zillow 指控称，他们这样做是因为明白 Zillow 无法承受失去芝加哥地区所有房源访问权限的后果，不得不恢复到之前的标准。他们很快就付诸了行动。
In early May, after Zillow suppressed nine listings for failing to adhere to its Listing Access Standards, Zillow got a warning threatening to terminate its access to MRED’s listing feed “if Zillow did not display” some of the Compass listings that violated Zillow’s policies. 5 月初，在 Zillow 因 9 条房源未遵守其《房源访问标准》而将其屏蔽后，Zillow 收到了警告，威胁称“如果 Zillow 不展示”某些违反其政策的 Compass 房源，就将终止其对 MRED 房源数据流的访问。
In its motion to compel arbitration, MRED accused Zillow of filing the lawsuit out of its “dissatisfaction” with its contract terms and “insecurity about continuing to generate revenue.” The company claimed that any harm that Zillow experienced is “completely self-inflicted, readily avoidable, and can be remedied at any time by simply complying with the same clear and longstanding license agreements under which it has operated for years.” 在强制仲裁的动议中，MRED 指责 Zillow 提起诉讼是出于对其合同条款的“不满”以及“对持续创收的不安”。该公司声称，Zillow 所经历的任何损害都是“完全自找的，完全可以避免，并且随时可以通过遵守其多年来一直遵循的、清晰且长期存在的许可协议来补救。”
Reached for comment, MRED’s spokesperson also pointed to an article calling out Zillow’s seeming hypocrisy for challenging MRED’s private listing network. 在被联系置评时，MRED 的发言人还指出了一篇文章，该文章指责 Zillow 在挑战 MRED 私人房源网络时表现出的虚伪。