MRED challenges Zillow’s claims of imminent listing feed disruptions

The spat between Zillow and Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) continues on.

Over the weekend, the Chicago-based MLS sent an email, obtained by HousingWire, to members warning them that the listing portal’s industry relations team is contacting MRED subscribers and allegedly threatening to contact their home seller clients.

MRED stated that it’s anticipating disruptions to listings flowing to Zillow via MRED beginning in the first week of January, and that the group is urgently working with brokerages to set up direct listing feeds. 

According to the email, a common reason for an MLS member’s service to be interrupted is due to a “policy violation that is not corrected within the required cure period.”

In the email, MRED expressed confusion over the January timeline Zillow was allegedly providing subscribers with in its outreach, since MRED has not provided Zillow with any notices of violations as of mid-December. 

“​​Unless Zillow anticipates violating MRED policy, we do not understand why they claim service will be interrupted in January. MRED has asked Zillow for an explanation and has yet to receive an answer,” the email states. 

The spat between Zillow and MRED began in early November when MRED sent an email to its members, notifying them that the MRED team was aware that some members may have received phone calls from Zillow regarding MRED’s private listing network.

Under Zillow’s listing access standards policy, listings entered into MRED’s private listing network violate Zillow’s policy because they are being publicly marketed without being available for display on websites powered by IDX or VOW feeds. 

In that email, MRED wrote that it “has made it clear to Zillow that selectively excluding listings may violate MRED’s rules, as well as the terms of Zillow’s license agreement with MRED which requires Zillow to access and display all licensed listings without bias or restrictions.” 

At the time, Zillow told HousingWire that it had not yet begun enforcing its policy in the Chicagoland area.

“Chicago is one of the very last markets Zillow’s Listing Access Standards have not yet launched in due to the unique situation of MRED’s own private listing network,” a Zillow spokesperson wrote in an email. “We have been attempting to work with them since the spring and have not yet sent listing access violations in MRED.”

Zillow currently relies primarily on IDX feeds from MLSs to power its website. But prior to becoming a member of MLSs in late 2020, listings came to Zillow via individual broker feeds. The firm still maintains many of these feeds as a backup for its IDX feeds, but the company has made it clear that it prefers IDX feeds that come directly from the MLS. 

“The MLS is so incredibly pro-consumer. It lets buyers see all of their options,“ Errol Samuelson, Zillow’s chief industry development officer, said in November 2024. “The MLS is an unbiased, open marketplace where there is equal access to information. So, it is a fair, level playing field because everybody has the same opportunity to see the same data.” 

Neither Zillow nor MRED responded to HousingWire’s requests for comment.