Updating Zillow’s Listing Access Standards for today’s market

In April 2025, Zillow introduced our Listing Access Standards with a clear goal: promote transparency in the housing market so buyers can see the homes available to them and sellers can reach the widest audience. Our focus on the importance of a transparent real estate market hasn't changed.

But the listing landscape around it has evolved over the past year, and we’re updating our standards to reflect that reality while staying true to the same consumer-first approach we’ve had since our founding.

Why we created Listing Access Standards in the first place

For more than two decades, Zillow has believed that real estate works best when information is open and accessible.

When listings are selectively marketed to small groups of buyers or kept hidden from the public in private listing networks, two things happen:

• Buyers miss homes they would have wanted to see
• Sellers may miss the full competition that helps drive the best offer

That’s why we originally introduced Listing Access Standards: to reinforce a simple expectation for listings that are publicly marketed:

If the existence of a home for sale is marketed to some buyers, it should be openly accessible by all buyers.

Our policy also went further than many industry rules.

At the time, our standards were more stringent than the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy and even some local MLS rules. 

Why we're updating the standards

Over the past year, the way listings are marketed has continued to evolve. Despite the vast majority of brokers and agents agreeing that broad exposure is what’s best, we’ve still seen a rise in:

• Acquisitions by large brokerages that aim to proliferate hidden listings in private listing networks
• MLSs relaxing rules in some markets to the detriment of consumers
• Diminished competition and an unlevel playing field for agents and brokers

At the same time, agents have consistently told us they want tools to build interest in a home before it officially goes active — while still reaching a broad pool of buyers.

One thing is clear:

While Zillow can set policies for how listings appear on our platform, we’re not the rule-makers for the industry.

Local MLSs establish the rules that govern listing marketing and distribution in each market, and agents and brokers are responsible for understanding and following those rules.

Our updated standards are simplified while continuing to support transparency for consumers. Hiding inventory for the benefit of a single brokerage is a terrible experience for buyers, sellers, agents and the broad market. Our standards still remain in place to limit this anti-consumer behavior on our platform. 

In short, the updated Listing Access Standards say:

• If listings are publicly marketed, they should be broadly accessible to buyers.
• Sellers can still choose truly private listings if they do not want their home to be publicly marketed at all. 
• Listings that are part of a broker program, private listing network or another marketing strategy that publicly markets to buyers the existence of a broker’s exclusive inventory of listings, or restricts public access to those listings by gating them behind a registration wall or requiring consumers to work with a specific brokerage, do not align with the standards.

These standards are designed to give agents flexibility while supporting a more transparent marketplace.

The industry is at a crossroads

The real estate industry is in the middle of an important conversation about who gets to see listings (and when).

Some models are focused on gating access so homes for sale are first shared inside private brokerage networks and then used to bait buyers who can’t actually see them unless they work with that brokerage. 

The majority of brokers and agents instead choose to focus on broad visibility, ensuring that when a home is marketed publicly, buyers across the market have the opportunity to see it. Those are the models we support because they best serve consumers.

Home sellers benefit from broad exposure, and buyers deserve a fair chance to discover the homes that match their needs — not just the homes available within a particular network.

That belief is what guided the creation of our Listing Access Standards last year, and it continues to guide how we’re evolving them today.

Where Zillow Listing Preview fits

We are also introducing Zillow Preview^SM, a new way for agents to publicly market their homes earlier in the listing process. 

Zillow Preview allows agents to publicly share a pre-market home with Zillow’s large audience before the listing becomes active, while also following their applicable local MLS rules for placing pre-active listings in the MLS.

Importantly, these listings are not hidden inventory because they are visible to all consumers on Zillow, Trulia and the listing broker and agent websites. They’re out in the open and in full sunlight. 

Preview listings will be clearly labeled and viewable to the millions of buyers who use Zillow and Trulia every month. That means sellers can start generating interest early by making their home broadly accessible, while giving them flexibility and choice as they prep their home to be fully active. 

Our approach with Zillow Preview stands in contrast to strategies that keep listings inside closed networks or limit visibility to buyers who agree to work with the listing brokerage. And, we’re working with brokers who remain focused on bringing broad visibility to pre-market listings through this product. 

Our belief remains simple: If a listing is going to be marketed publicly, buyers should be able to see it out in the open — both our Listing Access Standards and Zillow Preview product enable this.

Our commitment remains consistent

Real estate works best when buyers can see the homes available to them and sellers can reach the largest online real estate audience.

As the industry evolves, the tools and policies that support that goal will evolve too — but the principle remains the same:

A more open, transparent housing market where every buyer has a fair shot at every home, where sellers can maximize their investment and where agents can compete fairly is what’s best for the market.

#donthidethehome #launchyourlisting