Zillow, Realtor.com make ‘commitment to openness’ with Preview
The portals said their partnership, which they first announced in May, will create a new standard for housing market transparency through collaboration.
Zillow announced on Thursday that its "Preview" listings are also now visible on Realtor.com, a shift months in the making that grants consumers access to pre-market listings on both portals simultaneously.
No login required: Zillow and Realtor.com announced their partnership on pre-market listings in early May, just a couple of months after each introduced dueling pre-market listings programs.
The companies described the collaboration as "the largest pre-market syndication effort in U.S. residential real estate" and placed it in stark contrast to Compass' 3-phased marketing strategy, though Thursday's announcement did not mention the brokerage behemoth by name.
"No special login or brokerage relationship required," Zillow's news release said. "The same early access for every buyer, on both platforms starting today."
Setting 'a new standard': Executives from each portal characterized the partnership as one that creates a new industry standard for market transparency through collaboration.
"While others in this industry are moving in the other direction and restricting early listings to private networks, we're proving that broad, public visibility is better for sellers, better for buyers and better for agents," Zillow Chief Product Officer Christopher Roberts said in a statement.
Anna Marie Castiglioni, head of Realtor.com Next, said an open marketplace serves all consumers better than a closed one. "Bringing Preview Listings to both platforms means every buyer, on either site, gets access to the same homes at the same time — and every seller gets the benefit of that broad reach."
"In a fragmenting market," she added in a Thursday blog post, "the answer should not be less visibility or more gatekeeping. It should be a stronger commitment to openness."
Zillow launched its Preview product with five brokerage partners in mid-March and quickly added dozens more, sparking a new wave of industry debate over pre-market and private listings.
As Preview expands, Compass lauds 'important legal victory': While Zillow said this week that Preview has thus far amassed over 400 brokerage partners, Compass has been touting a recent court ruling that the brokerage said "strengthens" the path to widespread adoption of its 3-phased marketing strategy.
On Sept. 15, a federal judge overseeing Zillow's lawsuit against Compass and Chicago-based MLS Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) denied the home search giant's motion for a preliminary injunction in the parties' legal battle over listing transparency. The ruling means that, in order to access MRED's data feed and more than 30,000 Chicagoland listings, Zillow must follow the MLS's licensing rules — and abandon its own Listing Access Standards.
Compass International Holdings Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin praised the ruling, which the firm dubbed "an important legal victory for homeowners and its real estate professionals," in a Thursday news release.
"Homeowners deserve the right to choose how their properties are marketed, and no one should be penalizing agents for simply following their client's lawful instructions," Reffkin said. "As a company, we will continue to champion pro-competitive, pro-consumer, and innovative services and products that deliver positive outcomes for all stakeholders."