
Real estate broker Compass sues listing service over marketing rules
April 28 (Reuters) - 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, opens new tab 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, No. 2:25-cv-00766.
For Compass: Ethan Glass of Cooley
For Northwest MLS: Not yet available

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The estimated build cost spiralled in the interim. Last September the UK Government ended hopes that the west Belfast venue would host Euro 2028 games, when it said it would not bridge a funding gap to deliver the redevelopment in time. As well as the Stormont contribution of £62.5 million, the Irish government has offered roughly £42 million and the GAA has pledged to contribute at least £15 million. It has been reported that the cost of the project has fallen to £270 million since it was confirmed the ground would not host Euros matches. Under current plans and including the £50 million from Wednesday's announcement, the funding shortfall stands at roughly £100 million. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said it was now up to the Stormont Executive to do work on updating plans and costings for the Casement project. He said: 'We will look at those proposals to support them as best we can.' The DUP's Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has previously said that any additional money for sporting infrastructure in Northern Ireland had to be delivered on a fair and equitable basis. Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'It'll be over to the GAA in terms of the way forward on that, but from our point of view, it's very much about trying to ensure in an inclusive way that there is fairness right across the needs of all of our sports.' Asked if the £50 million could be spent on other Executive sporting projects, Mr Benn said: 'It is the bottom line. 'This is £50 million for Casement Park, it is ringfenced for that purpose.' He added: 'This is an Executive commitment, it dates from 2011. 'Three stadia – Windsor Park, Ravenhill, Casement Park, three great sporting codes. 'Two of them have been done and Casement Park has not been done. 'We all want to see it completed. 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Deputy premier and foreign affairs minister Simon Harris said Dublin had long supported the redevelopment of Casement Park as a 'landmark sports infrastructure project'. Mr Harris said: 'In February 2024, we made an early commitment from the Shared Island initiative of up to 50 million euro (£42 million) for the redevelopment of Casement. 'We underlined our commitment at that time to support the GAA in progressing this project in partnership with the UK and NI authorities. 'I will now engage with all these partners to deliver a redeveloped stadium. 'The last match hosted in Casement was well over a decade ago and it is past time for the redevelopment of this historic venue to get under way.'