Compass sues US-based Northwest Multiple Listing Service over marketing rules
Residential real estate giant Compass has sued a major
U.S. home-listing service
, accusing it of blocking homeowners from using narrow listings to test pricing and demand before marketing their properties more broadly.
Compass in its lawsuit in the
Seattle federal court
on Friday said
Northwest Multiple Listing Service
was trying to protect its dominance by overly controlling how sellers market their homes, in violation of
U.S. antitrust law
.
Most homes in the United States are sold through a regional listing service like Northwest, a database that sellers and buyers use to check inventory and pricing. Northwest runs a database of homes for sale in Washington and Oregon.
New York-based Compass said it and other brokerages should be allowed to list Pacific Northwest properties internally before marketing them more broadly. Such listings, known as "office exclusives," are common in other markets to tailor pricing and potentially avoid stalled listings, which can harm home values.
Compass and Northwest Multiple Listing Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The listing service said it facilitated nearly 68,000 residential home sales last year valued at more than $54 billion.
Northwest in a statement late last month on its website said that allowing an exclusive group of buyers and brokers to see homes "is fundamentally unfair."
Compass' lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order allowing "office exclusives" in the Seattle market.
Compass was among many major home brokers that were hit with antitrust claims for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to inflate home-sale commissions. Compass last year agreed to pay nearly $58 million to settle claims against it. The company denied any wrongdoing.
The case is Compass Inc v. Northwest Multiple Listing Service, U.S. District Court for Western District of Washington.
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