Hidden Zillow listings created fake supply shock, raising NYC rents, lawsuit says
Hidden Zillow listings created fake supply shock, raising NYC rents, lawsuit says
诉讼称：Zillow 隐藏房源制造虚假供应短缺，推高纽约租金
This week, two New York City renters filed a class action complaint alleging that a brokerage business called Compass—which has been boycotting posting listings on free digital platforms like Zillow—has now delisted so many rental units that it has created a fake supply shock that is artificially raising rents. 本周，两名纽约市租客提起集体诉讼，指控房地产经纪公司 Compass 通过抵制在 Zillow 等免费数字平台发布房源，下架了大量租赁单元，从而制造了虚假的供应短缺，人为推高了租金。
According to plaintiffs, Peter Castaneda and Haley Gelfand, Compass has bought so many brokerage firms over the past decade-plus that it maintains a monopoly, controlling “over 80 percent of the rental unit listings available for renters in Manhattan based on 2025 data.” With that monopoly, Compass can “literally dictate pricing for as much as 80 percent of Manhattan’s rental units,” renters argued. 原告 Peter Castaneda 和 Haley Gelfand 表示，Compass 在过去十多年里收购了大量经纪公司，从而形成了垄断地位。根据 2025 年的数据，该公司控制了“曼哈顿超过 80% 的可供租客选择的租赁房源”。租客们认为，凭借这种垄断地位，Compass 可以“直接决定曼哈顿多达 80% 租赁单元的定价”。
And now, Compass is allegedly trying to manipulate prices on other platforms, as well. Supposedly scheming to raise rents in order to raise broker fees often pegged to rent prices, Compass went to war with Zillow, the most popular free real estate platform that never charges broker fees. In New York City, a Zillow-owned platform called “StreetEasy” makes it easier for New Yorkers to find a unit without paying a broker fee. 据称，Compass 现在还试图操纵其他平台上的价格。为了提高通常与租金挂钩的经纪人佣金，Compass 策划了涨租计划，并与最受欢迎且不收取经纪费的免费房地产平台 Zillow 展开了对抗。在纽约市，Zillow 旗下的平台“StreetEasy”让纽约人更容易找到无需支付经纪费的房源。
However, seemingly hoping to force more people to turn to brokers to find homes that couldn’t be found on free platforms, Compass started delisting thousands of homes from Zillow earlier this year. Renters’ complaint cited a Compass “playbook” that allegedly “involves hiding listings from the public” in an attempt to “enable its own agents to double-dip to increase revenue per transaction, boost its stock price, and effectively ignore the consumer.” 然而，Compass 似乎希望迫使更多人转向经纪人以寻找在免费平台上找不到的房源，因此于今年早些时候开始从 Zillow 下架数千套房源。租客的诉状引用了一份 Compass 的“操作手册”，称其“涉及向公众隐藏房源”，旨在“使其经纪人能够通过双重收费增加每笔交易的收入，推高股价，并实际上无视消费者利益”。
In response to the mass-delistings, Zillow announced new standards excluding those private listings from ever appearing on its sites. That move was designed to curb the practice of hiding listings, since sellers likely wouldn’t want to lose the option of listing on Zillow if brokers can’t find a buyer. But the retaliation prompted Compass to file an antitrust suit, claiming that Zillow was the one trying to monopolize listings. However, Compass voluntarily dismissed that suit in March after a judge ruled that Compass was unlikely to succeed on the merits, writing that it seems clear that Zillow can’t have a monopoly if home buyers like to research across different platforms. 针对大规模下架行为，Zillow 宣布了新标准，禁止这些私下房源出现在其网站上。此举旨在遏制隐藏房源的行为，因为如果经纪人找不到买家，卖家通常不愿失去在 Zillow 上发布房源的机会。但这一反制措施促使 Compass 提起反垄断诉讼，声称是 Zillow 试图垄断房源。然而，在法官裁定 Compass 胜诉可能性不大，并指出如果购房者喜欢在不同平台进行研究，Zillow 显然无法形成垄断后，Compass 于 3 月主动撤回了诉讼。
Meanwhile, local and federal authorities have launched antitrust probes to investigate how Compass may be harming real estate markets. Behind one probe is US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.), who thinks Compass may be threatening to “create a two-tiered housing market where insiders pay for exclusive access to housing inventory and market data, while everyone else is shut out.” 与此同时，地方和联邦当局已启动反垄断调查，以审查 Compass 如何损害房地产市场。其中一项调查由美国参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦（Elizabeth Warren，民主党，马萨诸塞州）推动，她认为 Compass 可能正在威胁“创建一个双层住房市场，内部人士付费即可获得住房库存和市场数据的独家访问权，而其他人则被拒之门外”。
An attorney who represents renters, Blake Hunter Yagman, told Ars that plaintiffs are looking forward to having their case heard in court. “When a titan of an industry decides to choke off supply of an essential good or service, like housing, the implications can be swiftly vast and severe,” Yagman said. “New Yorkers already are facing affordability challenges which have evolved into a crisis—and that crisis is only compounded by high rent prices, which is the largest bill that most of us have to pay.” 代表租客的律师 Blake Hunter Yagman 告诉 Ars，原告期待案件在法庭上得到审理。“当行业巨头决定切断住房等基本商品或服务的供应时，其影响可能是迅速、巨大且严重的，”Yagman 说，“纽约人已经面临演变成危机的负担能力挑战，而高昂的租金——我们大多数人必须支付的最大账单——只会加剧这场危机。”
Compass declined Ars’ request to comment. But Zillow’s spokesperson weighed in on the class action complaint, telling Ars that, “when listings are deliberately hidden from public platforms, real consumers pay the price. This summer, New Yorkers have seen exactly that play out, with one dominant brokerage deciding which homes people get to see and further squeezing the NYC market during a housing crisis. Because StreetEasy exists to give every renter and buyer access to every available home, we support efforts to bring accountability to these practices.” Compass 拒绝了 Ars 的置评请求。但 Zillow 的发言人对该集体诉讼发表了看法，告诉 Ars：“当房源被故意从公共平台隐藏时，真正的消费者会付出代价。今年夏天，纽约人亲眼目睹了这种情况，一家占主导地位的经纪公司决定人们能看到哪些房源，并在住房危机期间进一步挤压了纽约市场。由于 StreetEasy 的存在是为了让每位租客和买家都能接触到所有可用房源，我们支持追究这些行为责任的努力。”
Rising rents linked to hidden listings
租金上涨与隐藏房源有关
As regulators eye the situation, Compass’ fight with Zillow has already increased rents in New York, Castaneda and Gelfand alleged. For Castaneda, signing a lease for a one-bedroom in downtown Manhattan this August set his monthly rent at $5,270, which “far exceeds” what he might have paid if he signed his lease one month sooner when the “average/median asking rent price” in that area was $4,390, the complaint said. Castaneda 和 Gelfand 指控称，在监管机构关注此局势的同时，Compass 与 Zillow 的争斗已经推高了纽约的租金。诉状称，对于 Castaneda 而言，今年 8 月签署曼哈顿市中心一居室租约时，月租金定为 5,270 美元，这“远高于”他如果提前一个月签署租约时可能支付的价格，当时该地区的“平均/中位数要价租金”为 4,390 美元。
“This price differential, or a portion of it, would not have existed but for the severe reduction in public listings of rental units on StreetEasy, where apartment rental prices are adjusted according to the law of supply and demand on the platform,” renters argued, while emphasizing that rent prices are sensitive and can change day to day. “如果不是因为 StreetEasy 上公共租赁房源的严重减少，这种价格差异（或其一部分）本不会存在，因为该平台上的公寓租金是根据供需规律进行调整的，”租客们辩称，并强调租金价格非常敏感，每天都可能发生变化。
To back their claims, they noted that: “Those who set rent prices (e.g. rental community administrators, owners of apartments, and others) set prices through various means which respond to supply and demand; these means include algorithms (including RealPage, which is used by the majority of rental communities in the United States), price setting tools, (including those which can be found on Zillow, and, therefore, on StreetEasy), and through price comparisons of other similar units on publicly available platforms, such as Zillow (and, therefore, on StreetEasy).” 为了支持他们的主张，他们指出：“那些设定租金价格的人（例如租赁社区管理员、公寓业主等）通过各种响应供需的方式设定价格；这些方式包括算法（包括美国大多数租赁社区使用的 RealPage）、定价工具（包括可以在 Zillow 以及 StreetEasy 上找到的工具），以及通过在 Zillow（以及 StreetEasy）等公开平台上对其他类似单元进行价格比较。”
Allegedly, Gelfand watched that price increase in real time. Using StreetEasy from July 2026 until she signed a lease in early August, Gelfand said the prices went up before she, too, agreed to pay a seemingly supracompetitive monthly price to rent a one-bedroom in downtown Manhattan for $5,270. Their complaint cited data showing that across all areas of New York, available rental units have dropped 40 percent in the past year. Market reports suggested that drop corresponded with a 3 percent increase of rental prices in June, which was quickly doubled to a 6 percent increase in July, as available units continued to decrease through August. 据称，Gelfand 实时目睹了价格上涨。从 2026 年 7 月到 8 月初签署租约期间，Gelfand 一直在使用 StreetEasy，她说价格在她同意支付 5,270 美元租下曼哈顿市中心一居室之前就已经上涨了，这看起来是一个超竞争的月租价格。他们的诉状引用数据表明，在过去一年中，纽约所有地区的可用租赁单元减少了 40%。市场报告显示，这一跌幅与 6 月份租金上涨 3% 相对应，随着可用单元在 8 月份持续减少，涨幅在 7 月份迅速翻倍至 6%。
“As a matter of fact, Compass’ ‘strategy’ has intentionally caused an existential surge in the price of rental units.” “事实上，Compass 的‘策略’已经蓄意导致了租赁单元价格的剧烈飙升。”