Zillow loses antitrust battle over Chicago area listings feed, tell me about this news in (https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/17/zillow-antitrust-battle-chicago-area-listings/)

Zillow lost a major federal legal battle in Chicago regarding its access to the Chicagoland home listings data feed.

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The Core Dispute

The fight centers on a clash between Zillow, the Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED)the dominant multiple listing service (MLS) covering the greater Chicago areaand national real estate brokerage Compass.

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Zillow implemented policy rules refusing to display properties from brokerages that utilize “private listing networks” or marketing practices that keep homes hidden behind member walls or off public platforms before reaching broader buyers. In response, MRED asserted that Zillow’s filtering of listings violated MRED’s data licensing agreements, which prohibit third-party portals from selectively cherry-picking or excluding broker listings. MRED subsequently cut off Zillow’s Chicago-area listing feed, prompting Zillow to file a federal antitrust lawsuit alleging that MRED and Compass colluded in an anti-competitive boycott.

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The Ruling

U.S. District Judge John Tharp Jr. in Chicago ruled against Zillow’s bid for a preliminary injunction:

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• Dissolved the Previous Protection: The judge dissolved an earlier emergency court order that had forced MRED to temporarily keep the listing data flowing to Zillow and Trulia.

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• Sent to Arbitration: The court determined that Zillow’s contract dispute with MRED must proceed through arbitration rather than in federal court, pausing related court claims against Compass in the interim.

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• No Unlawful Boycott Proven: The judge found that Zillow failed to present sufficient evidence of an illegal group boycott between MRED and Compass. Judge Tharp noted that any harm Zillow faces from losing access to the listing feed is self-inflicted by its own policy: if Zillow does not enforce its listing bans against Compass, MRED will not cut the feed.

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The Impact

The decision marks a significant victory for MRED and Compass, affirming an MLS’s ability to enforce rules preventing portals from selectively excluding broker inventory. While Zillow expressed disappointment and plans to pursue its position through arbitration, the ruling leaves public listing aggregators with less leverage to dictate listing display rules to regional MLS networks.

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