Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, announced this week that Redfin.com will no longer display listings that were publicly marketed before being shared through the MLS. In a post published April 14th on Redfin’s blog, Kelman stated, “Because we believe that all buyers should be able to see all listings, Redfin.com will not publish any listings that have been publicly marketed before being shared with all real estate websites via the MLS.” In an effort to support this approach, he also called on MLSs to adopt a coming-soon designation that hides days on market and price changes, features often cited by agents and sellers as barriers to listing early on the MLS.
Kelman criticized versions of coming-soon listings that limit access to agents, or only to a broker’s own agents, saying this violates principles stemming from the 2008 antitrust settlement that ensured all consumers could view all MLS listings. This announcement from Redfin comes just days after Zillow issued a similar policy update, as covered in my article on April 10th, aligning with NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy by stating that listings publicly marketed must be listed in the MLS within one day. These moves stand in contrast to Compass, which has pushed for broader pre-MLS marketing flexibility and challenged Clear Cooperation as too restrictive. With the two largest real estate portals now declining to publish off-MLS listings, the debate intensifies around who should control listing exposure—sellers, agents, brokerages, or MLSs—and whether the push for transparency may be limiting options for sellers looking to test the waters before going fully live.