Zillow asks court to preempt MRED listing feed termination
In a May 18 motion, the portal says the MLS — in coordination with Compass — has threatened to cut Zillow’s feed and “kneecap” its ability to compete.
Less than a week after filing a lawsuit against Compass and Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) MLS, Zillow is now asking the court for a preliminary injunction to prevent MRED from terminating the portal's listing feed — which the filing characterizes as "a naked effort to cut off Zillow's critical listings supply and kneecap Zillow's ability to effectively compete with them."
MRED, however, asserts that it "enforces its rules consistently and fairly," and Zillow is the one in breach of its agreement with the MLS.
A looming deadline: MRED announced today that it is preparing to "suspend property listing data feeds to Zillow Group websites, including Zillow.com and Trulia.com, unless Zillow cures its violation of its license agreements and MRED's rules by Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at midnight CDT."
The MLS added that it also "reserves the right to terminate Zillow's license based on Zillow's material breach of its license agreements by suppressing display of listings on its websites," referring to Zillow's ban on certain types of pre-marketed listings.
The original complaint: On May 12, Zillow announced it was suing Compass and the Chicago-area MLS — which operates its own private listings network — alleging that the companies colluded to conceal listings from homebuyers and "conspired to punish Zillow for not going along with it," Zillow wrote in a blog post.
That "punishment," Zillow claimed, would be the termination of Zillow's access to MRED's listing feed. According to the complaint, MRED threatened to cut off the feed if Zillow did not reinstate Compass listings the portal had barred in accordance with its listing access standards.
To avoid losing the listing feed, Zillow said it has not been enforcing its access standards in the greater Chicago market.
A plea to agents: After filing the lawsuit, Zillow proactively reached out to brokers and agents on May 13 to inform them that "MRED has signaled that it will stop syndicating listings to Zillow in the coming days."
The portal encouraged agents to ask their managing broker to set up a direct feed to ensure their listings did not "disappear" from Zillow.
A series of alleged threats: In its May 18 motion for a preliminary injunction, Zillow provided additional background on its dispute with MRED, indicating that in October 2025, Compass International Holdings Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin emailed "multiple MLSs where Compass has a strong presence, urging them to terminate Zillow's listing feeds" if Zillow enforced its listing standards.
Weeks later, MRED President and CEO Rebecca Jensen "threatened to terminate Zillow's access to MRED Listing Feeds," the motion states, adding that MRED has also "warned brokers about providing direct feeds to Zillow."
Fast forward to May, the portal said it received emails from MRED and its listings distributor, MLS Grid, indicating that it would "revoke Zillow's access to MRED Listing Feeds if Zillow did not display certain Compass listings nationwide," Zillow claims. "Days later, Compass and all of its subsidiaries terminated Zillow's direct feed access nationwide. On May 11, a Compass broker reported to Zillow that the president of Compass Illinois had informed him that MRED 'is going to be banning Zillow from getting any listing feeds.'"
What MRED had to say: "The rules of this MLS exist to protect every participating broker and every consumer who relies on a complete and accurate picture of the market," Jensen said in a news release. "Those rules apply equally to every participant, regardless of the size of their audience or the reach of their platform. MRED enforces its rules consistently and fairly, and hopes that Zillow returns to operating consistent with its longstanding agreements with MRED."
The MLS emphasized that "the choice to comply with MRED's reasonable IDX and VOW rules — and avoid feed interruption — is Zillow's to make," adding that it "hopes that Zillow makes the right choice, for the sake of all of MRED's brokers, agents, sellers, buyers and the rest of the MLS marketplace that relies on an orderly system of cooperation."
Should Zillow's feeds be suspended, MRED noted, the MLS's listings will remain live "on thousands of compliant consumer-facing websites," and listings in ShowingTime and dotLoop — both Zillow Group brands — will not be affected.
Real Estate News has also reached out to Compass for comment.
Making the case for 'irreparable harm': Zillow argues that if it enforces its listing standards, its "access to MRED Listing Feeds will be terminated immediately, harming Zillow and Zillow Preview's ability to compete."
Specifically, the filing states, "defendants' conduct irreparably harms Zillow, competition, and consumers by cutting off Zillow Preview's ability to compete as a new entrant; reducing output by limiting distribution of even Defendants' non-PLN listings; and distorting competition by insulating Defendants' PLN listings from the competitive pro-transparency pressures of the Standards and Zillow Preview."
Support for its claims: Zillow included several statements in support of its injunction, including one from economist Lawrence Wu of NERA, an economic consultancy that provides expert testimony in antitrust cases.
In his 94-page expert declaration, Wu affirms that the "basic economic elements" to support Zillow's claims of a "group boycott" and "monopoly maintenance" are present.
"In the market for listing platforms, MRED and Compass have market power based on their control over listings," Wu writes — giving them "the ability to erect barriers to entry into the market for brokerage services."
"By threatening to cut off Zillow's access to listings data, MRED and Compass can effectively compel Zillow not to enforce the [listing access standards], which are core to Zillow's ability to invest in and offer high quality services to brokers, agents, home sellers, and home buyers," Wu asserts.