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n 2025 the debate over private listings erupted into a full‑blown industry conflict, with the biggest brokerages and tech firms taking opposing sides and warning that the market’s openness was at stake. Real Estate News highlighted the year’s most influential figures in its “Top Ten” list, noting that the clash over how homes are marketed could reshape the sector.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) refreshed its Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) on March 25, extending the rule that requires agents to enter a listing into the MLS within a business day of public marketing. The new policy also permits a brief pre‑marketing window, sparking heated debate among brokers about consumer benefit versus market transparency.
Compass, the nation’s largest brokerage by sales volume, had already rolled out a three‑phase marketing plan in late 2024. Sellers can first list privately, test market interest, and then move to the MLS, a move Compass claims protects sellers from negative data such as days on market or price cuts while building a private inventory pool.
Opponents of private listings warned that a race to control inventory could erode housing data integrity, create fair‑housing conflicts, increase double‑ending, and fracture the cooperative spirit of real estate. eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja cited moral, ethical, and legal risks, yet noted that eXp’s 83,000 agents would benefit if the industry leaned toward competitive inventory use. Anywhere CEO Ryan Schneider echoed the concerns but also suggested that Anywhere could profit from a private‑listing trend.
Zillow emerged as the loudest critic. The home‑search platform released reports on the downsides of off‑market listings, lobbied for state‑level CCP adoption in Illinois, and in April announced new listing standards that effectively barred homes that had been publicly marketed but not widely shared via MLS or IDX feeds. Zillow argued the move would level the playing field and preserve MLS as a cooperative exchange.
CoStar’s CEO Andy Florance responded with an open letter to agents, pledging that Homes.com would continue to display listings barred by Zillow and later offered to boost those listings on its platform. Compass viewed Zillow’s restrictions as a direct threat to its three‑phase strategy and sued the company in June, accusing it of abusing monopoly power to block homeowners and agents who marketed elsewhere.
If a firm like Compass, poised to grow further after acquiring Anywhere, were to accelerate private listings, the industry could see a shift toward a handful of dominant players, mirroring the concentration seen in commercial real estate. Consumer advocate Stephen Brock, a senior fellow at the Consumer Policy Center, warned that once power becomes institutionalized, reversing the trend would be difficult. “It’s like World War I—once you line up, you end up with six big brokers controlling the market,” he said in August.
The 2025 private‑listing showdown underscores the tension between innovation and market fairness, and its outcome will likely determine whether residential real estate remains a broad, cooperative marketplace or consolidates into a few powerful entities.
