CoStar CEO says Zillow has ‘overplayed its hand’ in fight over access to real estate listings

This story originally appeared on Real Estate News. CoStar CEO Andy Florance says Zillow’s move to ban certain private listings is self-serving and that the leading home search site has “overplayed its hand.” The comments came in a letter sent to real estate agents and shared last week by CoStar, the parent company of Homes.com, a quick-growing rival to Zillow. “Rest assured, if Zillow does block your listing it will still be seen on Homes.com” and other major portals (including Redfin and Realtor), which together reach more than 418 million monthly visitors, Florance said. However, on Monday, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman weighed in… Read More

Apr 14, 2025 - 22:29

CoStar CEO says Zillow has ‘overplayed its hand’ in fight over access to real estate listings

This story originally appeared on Real Estate News.

CoStar CEO Andy Florance says Zillow’s move to ban certain private listings is self-serving and that the leading home search site has “overplayed its hand.”

The comments came in a letter sent to real estate agents and shared last week by CoStar, the parent company of Homes.com, a quick-growing rival to Zillow. “Rest assured, if Zillow does block your listing it will still be seen on Homes.com” and other major portals (including Redfin and Realtor), which together reach more than 418 million monthly visitors, Florance said.

However, on Monday, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman weighed in with an endorsement of Zillow’s approach. “Because we believe that all buyers should be able to see all listings, Redfin.com will not publish any listings that have been publicly marketed before being shared with all real estate websites via the MLS,” Kelman said in a brief blog post.

What Zillow did: Last week, Zillow announced plans to bar listings that are publicly marketed but not widely available via the MLS. “Our belief is that, if a listing is going to be marketed to a buyer or a subset of buyers, it really needs to be made available to all buyers,” Errol Samuelson, Zillow’s chief industry development officer, told Real Estate News.

Research by Zillow and Bright MLS has shown off-MLS listings cost consumers thousands of dollars more per home, with sellers in communities of color disproportionately harmed by the practice.

The CoStar response: Florance’s letter tells agents they would be better served by working with Homes.com, because it is “agent friendly” and gives “clear, undisputed credit” for listings.

“We follow the principle of Your Listing, Your Lead. That means we only display your name, your photo, your brokerage, and connect potential buyers only to you,” Florance said, reiterating claims he has made before about Zillow’s “lead diversion” business model. “We never take a commission split or sell leads to competing agents.”

“This isn’t about protecting consumers,” he added. “It’s about protecting Zillow’s ability to profit from your listings by selling your leads to competing agents.”

What other top portals have to say: A rep for Realtor.com told Real Estate News: “We’re giving the topic thoughtful consideration. We firmly support listing cooperation — it ensures buyers see more homes, sellers get maximum exposure, and the market stays fair and competitive.”

Redfin, meanwhile, also called on MLSs to create a new kind of “coming-soon designation for listings that precludes search sites from showing how long a home has been for sale and at what prices,” Kelman wrote. This will “encourage home-sellers to market their listings via the MLS.”

How we got here: Zillow characterized its new standards as a response to the divisive Clear Cooperation Policy, which requires listings to be submitted to an MLS within one business day of being marketed to the public. On March 25, the National Association of Realtors said Clear Cooperation would continue — with an important addition: Multiple Listing Options for Sellers.

Florance took issue with this decision, saying that “real estate portals must remain neutral.”

“Whether or not you support the Clear Cooperation Policy, it is never acceptable for a real estate portal to threaten agents this way,” he wrote.

His letter closes with an invitation for agents to contact the U.S. Department of Justice if they “feel that Zillow’s heavy handed attempt to use their market power to force agents like you to list on Zillow within 24 hours is anti-competitive.”