This story originally appeared on Real Estate News.
One of the real estate industry’s biggest attention-grabbing cases of the past year has come to an abrupt end.
Compass International Holdings announced Wednesday that it is dismissing the lawsuit it filed last June against Zillow. The two industry giants have been at loggerheads for months over Zillow’s Listing Access Standards, a policy that restricts listings that are publicly marketed but not widely available through the MLS.
Shares of Zillow rose slightly after the news broke.
Compass’s signature 3-tier marketing strategy, in which sellers are encouraged to establish their home as a Compass Private Exclusive and enter the Compass Coming Soon category before being publicly listed on the MLS, has been at odds with those standards.
The move comes a day after Compass Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin appeared to extend an olive branch to the rival brokerage portal after Zillow introduced a change in its approach to pre-marketing listings.
Compass dismissed its lawsuit without prejudice, meaning the company can refile the case at a later date.
What Compass says:Reffkin specifically cited Zillow’s “Preview” product announcement — which he called a “reversion” policy — in a social media post announcing the layoff.
“As a result of this reversal, we are dismissing our lawsuit against Zillow,” he wrote.
“Our goal has always been to give homeowners more choice to decide when, where, and how to market their homes. We are happy to see that both other brokerages and portals are now recognizing the strong demand of buyers for more options in how they sell their homes,” said Reffkin’s post.
“At Compass International Holdings, we will always protect our real estate professionals’ ability to put their clients first, and we will continue to advocate for more, not fewer, choices for homeowners.”
Zillow said:“Zillow welcomes Compass’ decision to voluntarily withdraw its lawsuit. As we stated earlier, the claims were without merit, and the court’s decision to block the lawsuit reinforced that view,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“The underlying problem remains: Secret listing networks do not benefit buyers, and never have. Limiting listings to hidden networks exposes, harms buyers and sellers and undermines fair access to real estate information that is critical to this housing affordability crisis,” the statement continued.
The Listing Access Standards were “introduced to protect the core principles of competition, openness and access that support healthy markets and benefit buyers, sellers and agents,” and those standards “remain in effect.”
“Zillow will continue to choose not to display previously hidden listings to the public for the benefit of any one company. Any suggestion that these standards no longer apply is incorrect,” the company said.
“Hidden listing networks that provide access to listings behind a subscription wall or require buyers to work with a specific company do not meet our standards and, to the extent that Compass continues to operate a network of hidden items in the shadows, those listings remain in violation of our standards.”
How we got here:Zillow, which has often talked about open listings and an open market, announced its Listing Standards for April 2025. At the time, the home search giant said the policy was designed to “level the playing field” as the private listing trend gains momentum across the industry.
Compass, which built its marketing strategy around private listings and the concept of “seller choice,” sued Zillow in June — days before the policy went into effect — alleging that Zillow was “self-governing” and violating antitrust laws. Compass later alleged that there was a conspiracy between Zillow and Redfin after Redfin made moves to accept a mutual ban on certain private listings. That ban didn’t work, and Compass has since struck a deal to display its Coming Soon listings on Redfin.com.
Zillow recently scored a victory in social media with Compass. Months after filing an initial injunction asking the court to temporarily suspend Zillow’s ban while the case continued, a judge denied Compass’ request in a Feb. 6 which still allowed Zillow to continue to follow the listing standards.
Compass said at the time it planned to proceed with the case, saying the judge’s decision was “not a loss.”
Doing it right?But a lot has changed since the beginning of February. After the home search site revealed the Zillow Preview, Reffkin’s response to Mar. 17 of the social network in the Zillow Preview appears to indicate some kind of dynamic between the two companies — two industry giants that have been vocal in their criticism of each other’s policies.
“I sincerely thank Zillow for giving homeowners more choice,” he wrote in response to Zillow’s announcement. “Sellers deserve the choice of when, where and how they decide on their homes.”
