Compass CEO Robert Reffkin predicts Zillow, worth around $17 billion, will eventually become the nation's de facto Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This shift would mark a significant change in real estate industry dynamics.
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Initially reported by Inman, the prediction came during a discussion at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) annual conference last Friday amid ongoing debates over listing policies.
“I think if you were going to build an MLS today … I think it would be national,” Reffkin said during the “Future of the MLS” session. “There wouldn’t be 548. At some point, there will be a national MLS.”
His comments come as the industry grapples with changes to commission structures and listing practices following a recent legal decision. The traditional model of seller-paid commissions is evolving, with new rules eliminating commission information from MLS listings.
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Reffkin praised Zillow’s business strategy while criticizing existing industry rules. “They were able to get access to all the listings and then charge referral fees on all the listings. It’s a great business model and those are rules that you’ve created, so they’re the winner,” he said.
Zillow’s Chief Industry Development Officer, Errol Samuelson, defended the current MLS system. “At its essence, the reason the MLS is so important is it is an unbiased, open, two-sided marketplace where there is equal access to information,” Samuelson said. “If it didn’t exist, we would feel obliged to invent it.”
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The debate intensifies as the industry adapts to court-mandated changes in agent compensation. Traditional practices of sellers paying both agents’ commissions face scrutiny, with new requirements for explicit buyer-broker agreements.
“Any time we have the opportunity to have a conversation with the consumer about the value that we bring to the transaction … that’s a good thing,” NAR President Kevin Sears said, addressing the broader changes in commission structures, in an August USA Today report.
According to Stephen Brobeck of the Consumer Federation of America, the evolving landscape could reshape the industry within five years. “For consumers, things are not going to change much in the immediate future,” Brobeck told USA Today. “But it’s like a dam that’s springing a leak.”
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The new rule threatens smaller brokerages while potentially strengthening Zillow’s market position, supporting Reffkin’s prediction about the future of listing services in America.
Art Carter, CEO of California Regional MLS, highlighted the difficulty of managing industry changes across diverse stakeholder interests. “My top three brokers all have three different opinions on policy,” Carter said.
The debate over listing policies and market structure continues as the industry searches for a balance between traditional practices and technological innovation in an increasingly digital real estate landscape.
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