Judge orders MRED to restore Zillow listing feeds in Chicago

Zillow and Trulia listings in the Chicagoland area returned after a federal judge granted Zillow a preliminary injunction preventing Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) from suspending listing feeds. MRED had threatened to suspend Zillow’s feeds unless Zillow cured an alleged material breach of license agreements by a deadline. MRED then suspended Zillow’s feed covering about 43,000 active listings, nearly all MLS inventory, from consumer-facing platforms. The dispute involved Zillow’s removal of nine listings that MRED said were marketed lawfully under MLS rules. Zillow said the nine listings were not in MRED’s traditional Chicagoland service area. Zillow characterized the situation as harming buyers, sellers, and agents and as part of a coordinated scheme to reduce transparency and competition.

"Chicagoland area listings are back on Zillow and Trulia as of Friday afternoon, after Chicago-based federal Judge John Tharp, Jr. granted Zillow's preliminary injunction motion seeking to prevent Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) from suspending its listing feeds. On Monday, Zillow filed the motion in its antitrust lawsuit against MRED and Compass International Holdings, after MRED notified it that the MLS would suspend its listing feeds unless Zillow cured what the MLS called a material breach of its license agreements by late Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, MRED announced that it had suspended Zillow's listing feed."

"According to the announcement, Zillow's stance prompted MRED to shut off a feed covering roughly 43,000 active listings, or 99.98% of the MLS's inventory, from the portal's consumer-facing platforms. The Illinois-based MLS said that it notified Zillow two weeks ago that selectively excluding listings from participating brokers violated Zillow's license agreements with the MLS. MRED gave Zillow until 11:59 p.m. Central time on May 19, 2026, to fix the issue. Zillow did not do so, the MLS said."

"Zillow told HousingWire that none of these nine listings are in MRED's traditional Chicagoland service area. In an emailed statement, a Zillow spokesperson told HousingWire, that the ruling on its motion was an important first step for the Chicago home buyers, sellers and agents who have been harmed by a coordinated scheme between MRED and Compass to reduce transparency in the housing market. In the middle of a housing affordability crisis, powerful industry players colluded to hide listings, suppress competition and steer consumers toward a single dominant brokerage, the spokesperson wrote."

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