An antitrust suit against Zillow over how it displays real estate listings could cripple the platform, the company stated in court filings Friday, April 30, warning that the case may ruin the nation’s most popular website to search for homes for sale.
Real estate startup REX has asked a federal court to force Zillow and its subsidiary Trulia to stop separating homes for sale into two groups — those listed by brokers who belong to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and those listed by others. But contractual restrictions require Zillow to segregate the listings, the company stated.
“REX’s proposed injunction creates a substantial risk that Zillow’s online platforms would lose access to listings data in markets across the country,” Zillow wrote in court documents, adding that that “runs the risk that Zillow could lose access to the data entirely, irreparably damaging its business.”
Zillow changed how it displays listings in January after gaining access to the Multiple Listing Services Internet Data Exchange feeds, whose rules are established by the NAR. Those rules prohibit websites that use the data feeds from combining NAR listings with those offered by non-NAR agents.
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