SEATTLE, March 4, 2026, 03:13 PST
- Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman defended the company’s policy mandating listings get published online within a day—acknowledging that some may end up blocked as a result.
- With the spring selling season approaching, brokers are pushing more “private” and “coming soon” listings as these comments start to circulate.
- Insider filings this week turned up new equity grants and a handful of stock sales tied to a pair of Zillow directors.
Zillow Group, Inc. CEO Jeremy Wacksman defended the company’s decision to restrict certain home listings on Zillow when homeowners choose targeted marketing. According to Wacksman, this type of inventory holdback has the potential to drive up costs on both sides of a deal. 1
Spring is on the horizon, but the U.S. housing market still faces slow deal flow, leaving brokerages searching for any small advantage they can get. They’re pressing for more control over how quickly fresh listings hit the main portals—and what information goes live with them.
Zillow and its online rivals sit in an awkward in-between spot. Their property listings pull directly from regional multiple listing services (MLSs)—run by local real estate groups. What’s at issue? Which homes are entered into those MLS systems, when those entries happen, and who’s allowed to see them first.
Compass has inked a three-year agreement that puts its “Private Exclusive” and “Coming Soon” listings onto Redfin’s platform, both companies said. The partnership gives Compass’s early-stage listings a wider audience, but certain details—such as days-on-market—will still be hidden from public view. “As we go into the spring market, we want to give sellers more choices on how they market their home,” Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said. 2
Wacksman compared Zillow’s marketing playbook to e-commerce, not to the drip-feed tactics of show business. The target: blast out the listing the moment it hits the market. “You want to advertise to as much demand as possible, as quickly as possible,” he told the interviewer.
Zillow isn’t out to wipe out all off-market deals, he said. Sellers who value privacy still have options: they can avoid the MLS, prevent listings from hitting internet sites, or hide the address. But when it comes to “selective marketing”—showing certain buyers a property while others don’t get a look—that’s a red line for him. That’s not okay, he stressed.
“You just can’t window by only showing your home to some people and then forcing those people to go work with certain companies,” Wacksman said. His take: “the toll on all those customers is going to go up.”
The battle’s even reshaping listing displays. MLS operators are facing pressure to come up with policies on synthetic photos and, as Wacksman put it, “AI slop” turning up in home marketing. As for Zillow, it’s pushing to present “the most fair and transparent and accurate version of a listing” it can.
He says Zillow continues to push out new, more sophisticated media features — things like Zillow Showcase, which uses AI to deliver more expansive virtual tours and visuals that aim to save buyers’ time. Adoption hasn’t taken off yet, he admits, though momentum is building. His forecast: these advanced listings are on track to become the industry norm.
Zillow is shifting gears, Wacksman said, moving past home search alone to get further into real estate transactions—by supplying software and services to agents and lenders. Mortgage and rental features are now built in alongside the main search tool. The headcount sits at roughly 7,000. For now, most site traffic is still “free and direct,” he noted, an important advantage if paid acquisition costs start rising.
Even so, “open” listings come with their own set of hassles. Some brokerages are testing ways to obscure both sellers’ price histories and the length of time properties have been up for sale—a tactic that could sideline portals that won’t go along. Legal headaches persist for Zillow. Lawsuits over access to listings and alleged anticompetitive behavior continue to loom, with cases almost certain to drag on and keep management occupied. 3
Zillow’s Class C shares (Z) jumped about 3.8% in premarket trade this Wednesday.
Gregory B. Maffei, a director, tapped his stock options and sold shares during the week, fresh SEC filings show. Fellow board member Erik C. Blachford also reported newly granted stock awards, along with a small sale executed under a prearranged trading plan. Sec 4
Zillow isn’t shifting gears on wide distribution, according to Wacksman. “We’re going to bend towards open,” he said. On the other side, brokerages keep testing the limits of how private a listing can be and still make the cut as “for sale.”
