Just met with our third potential listing agent who is the top producer in our market and one of the things he said that struck me was something about how Compass and a bunch of the biggest brokers are pulling all their listings off Zillow in 2026.
Im having trouble finding anything on this and I’m curious if anyone has heard the same and how it might affect sellers? I believe he said his broker isn’t one of the ones pulling off Zillow and that they still post everywhere. I believe he also said that a lot of agents at these brokers will try to push pocket listings before going on the open market. Is this to that agents advantage and will we get less on the private market? We talked to an agent from Compass and he was the only one that mentioned a private listing to generate buzz for the first open house which lines up.
Brokers threatening to pull off Zillow in 2026?
byu/jarman65 inRealEstate
Posted by jarman65
9 Comments
Zillow is a brokerage that uses IDX to get listing data. Another brokerage can’t hold their listings from a particular brokerage. They could choose to not have their listings on all idx sites.
Not gonna happen. If it does that’s a major disservice to the seller. Why would you want to limit exposure on your listing?
Sure girl
Compass is/has been buying everybody. They want control of the data. If you own the data you win. Zillow and Compass are battling for the data. Compass wants to replace the MLS and make the data only available to Compass agents and their clients, so your ONLY choice is essentially to go with Compass. Zillow is not having it…Redfin also has a huge following and is in line with Zillow. Big battle, unfortunately Compass has bought just about everyone (in talks to buy the company that owns Coldwell Banker as well-forgot the name off the top of my head) and is going to have the most agents in the US of anyone. Robert Rufkin is a douche…
Most serious buyers aren’t on Zillow. Zillow views and saves mean zero, nothing.
Compass in my market and many markets is number one for a reason. Their off Zillow marketing reaches more potential buyers. And many times “off market” offers are strong because the buyer doesn’t want it to go to full market where they will have to compete with more buyers and they know an under list offer isn’t going to get the job done.
I recently listened to [The Journal: Compass vs Zillow](https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/compass-vs-zillow-the-real-estate-wars/a9c938b3-af9a-401e-bc27-e5e00570c8dc?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdtOdJf9jUvbeDXhzs9qWT9v6-AfVm33Qigi8NZFY-Lpm_miwyjuY8Oc15gQ_w%3D&gaa_ts=694a1117&gaa_sig=jS5dLWlyk226uQJC0xmbTj99-RYqMx4OKScfEtin9xo6m5Mv0aq9mGOinMc_ft15TdSQ0Y3JFIq6isC7dVMFIQ%3D%3D) and found it interesting.
Compass (and any other brokerage) has no way of controlling what shows up on Zillow. Zillow buys data from MLSes. The only way this happens is if:
* Compass buys Zillow (in which case, they wouldn’t shut it down because that would be stupid)
* There’s some landmark litigation or political activity that ends the ability for MLSes to sell data without approval from the brokers that submitted that data
* The specific MLS in your area is going to stop selling their data (in which case, it would apply to *all* listings, not just Compass ones)
All of these situations have basically a zero chance of happening. So what that agent was really telling you is, “don’t hire me, because I just make up nonsense to make you think I know what I’m talking about.”
It is true that Compass does private listings. I see absolutely zero advantage for the seller in allowing this.
Compass has some weird stuff that doesn’t benefit home sellers. Like trying to sell off market
Really the home seller is going to be the one that decides if the listing is syndicated out to zillow and all the other sites. If a broker is not doing that it’s very easy to find another that will reach more buyers
Won’t happen.