MRED Blog

“Portals broadly want to protect their access to listings.”

Zillow created a strategy document in December of 2024. This “highly confidential” 30-page document recently made public from Zillow’s legal battle with Compass details how Zillow could mitigate “the erosion of traffic and eventually revenue”, which resulted from MLSs using private listing networks.

Zillow decided its strategy could be “more aggressive with hardline tactics to keep ALL listings in IDX, on Zillow”. One of the “hardline tactics” was to “Mobilize local and national organizations to publicly warn brokers and agents on the fair housing risks of reduced access to real estate information.”

Given this context, it is not surprising that Zillow conducted a one-day study in the Chicagoland market that attacks MRED’s Private Listing Network (PLN).

MRED takes Fair Housing very seriously, with rules and processes in place to scan all private and active listings for violations. We also believe that any bad actors deserve all consequences, professionally and legally, that come to them. Notably, Zillow’s strategy document does not explicitly mention protecting Fair Housing principles, outside of using as a tactic in its “Model Market Playbook”.

MRED launched the PLN in 2016 to make all properties available to all agents and brokerages across the market. We want to prevent the use of shadow networks off the MLS that could lead to discrimination and exclusion. As a contrast, Zillow wants “to punish the agent for choosing to put their listings on alternate networks” like MRED’s PLN. We are proud of the steps we have taken to support all business models in our MLS to work together.

“Every real estate professional has access to MRED’s private listing network,” said Cecelia Marlow (President of Dearborn Realtists, a Chicago association for Black real estate professionals that dates to 1941, via Crain’s, November 21^st 2025).

MRED relies heavily on data. We reached out to Zillow for the specifics behind its methodology and have not received it yet. We feel it is important to note that:

• There are three times as many active listings in majority white zip codes as non-white zip codes.
• iBuyers and institutional investing heavily target non-white majority neighborhoods, which once purchased become rentals.
• Zillow’s study does not seem to account for other factors, such as rentals and off MLS transactions (including their own For Sale By Owner properties).

In an MIT study about iBuying, it was noted that “Seller vulnerability could play a role, as homeowners in these communities may be more likely to accept below-market offers due to financial strain, lack of savings for repairs, or the need for immediate liquidity.”

In our opinion, Zillow’s approach in Illinois and its recent criticism of MRED’s PLN appears to be driven less by data and more by a cynical strategic objective: securing control over listing distribution to protect its revenue. Their criticism of MRED’s PLN does not seem to be about protecting consumers or advancing fair housing. It appears to be part of a broader strategy to secure complete control of listing distribution and undermine the cooperative foundation of MRED.

MRED was built to safeguard open access, prevent discrimination, and ensure that every brokerage, large and small, can compete on equal footing. Our PLN was created to prevent exclusionary shadow markets, not enable them. Our ongoing monitoring, compliance systems, and rules reflect our commitment.