Despite infighting, top portals offer mostly the same listing info 

The four largest listing portals offer much of the same information about the availability and characteristics of homes for sale. But the differences that do exist between them mean consumers should check all four to get a better picture of what's on the market, according to a report released today by the Consumer Policy Center (CPC).

As the real estate industry continues debating access to listings, the think tank and watchdog group took a look at what the most popular portals — Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Homes.com — currently offer buyers and sellers. The results were somewhat surprising to CPC Senior Fellow Stephen Brobeck, who authored the report.

"One reason I did the research was because I thought Zillow and Realtor.com had more listings than the other two, and also because there have been so many new partnerships between major brokerages and individual portals that I thought some striking differences would emerge," Brobeck told Real Estate News.

"But neither did at the time I did the research — August and September."

Most listings appear on all four major portals

The report, titled "Home Search I: Comparing the Big Real Estate Portals," examined a sample of over 2,000 listings for 500 properties in 21 communities nationwide. Each community had 15 to 25 or so properties for sale. 

"Our research shows that, in community searches, all four portals largely provide the same information about the availability and essential characteristics of properties for sale, including days on market," the report says. "The portals are able to do so because all four still have good access to MLS databases."

The vast majority of the sample listings appeared on either all four portals (74.3%) or at least three (83.4%). Each portal failed to include some properties in the chosen communities, but Zillow and Realtor.com had a slightly higher number of listings than Redfin and Homes.com, in part because the latter two did not list some lower-priced homes, the report noted.

Redfin, which entered into a partnership with Compass earlier this year, displayed 14 "Early Access" coming-soon properties listed by Compass or Compass International Holdings affiliates. These 14 properties were not listed on the other three portals. Other coming-soon properties were usually listed by more than one portal, except in the Chicago area, the report said.

Realtor.com was the only portal to prominently list properties that were contingent or pending, though Zillow and Redfin also provide this information if a consumer searches for it, the CPC found. "Nearly 15 percent of these sales fall through," the report said. "A large number of sellers accept buyer offers when properties are contingent and even pending."

Realtor.com also displays what the report called "a deceptive 'contact'" button on the first page of its listings that "never makes it clear that the contact is with a buyer agent," the report said. Brobeck added that this "is the same issue Zillow was roundly criticized and sued for, then made it clear that the link was to a buyer agent." The CPC and other organizations "are on record criticizing Zillow for this practice," he added.

Most report days on market — but number can be 'deceptively low'

Almost all of the reviewed listings had days on market (DOM) information. "Buyers should be aware, though, that sometimes this figure, because of relisting, is deceptively low," the report warned. "Most listings, apart from Compass-related Early Access/Coming soon listings, include a property history that provides information about relisting."

Brobeck said his "greatest frustration" was trying to explain DOM discrepancies. "Redfin was the most likely to reset to a lower DOM," he explained. For example, Redfin listed a property in Volente, Texas, as spending 27 hours on the market, while the other three portals listed its DOM as 77. That listing originally had the same DOM on Redfin, but the value was revised after the property was repriced.

"Buyers can check on the accuracy of this statistic by looking at the property listing on all four portals, recognizing that the highest number is probably the most accurate," the CPC said.

Consumers urged to check all portals

The think tank advised buyers and sellers to review listings — including those labeled Early Access, contingent and pending — on all four portals. Each is "an essential source of information for home buyers and sellers," the CPC's report said.

Comparing and contrasting the data available on all four provides buyers with "important information about the availability and characteristics of a broad range of properties" and provides sellers with "information about their own local marketplace that helps them price and market their home more effectively," it explained.

"For both buyers and sellers, the portals give an agency that facilitates their work with agents and helps protect them from abusive practices such as steering."