Redfin visitors will soon be able to see for-sale homes that haven’t been widely advertised — but Washington properties may not be included, as the practice remains restricted in the state.

Rocket Companies, owner of Seattle-based Redfin, announced on Thursday a three-year syndication agreement with real estate brokerage Compass to showcase its “coming soon” listings on Redfin starting March 16.

Compass advertises “coming soon” homes on its website, but it doesn’t add them to Multiple Listing Services databases that feed home-shopping websites, including Zillow and Redfin.

The agreement will eventually include Compass’ “Private Exclusive” listings, which aren’t publicly available and only shared privately within Compass’ network, according to a Rocket news release.

Compass’ private listings won’t show up on Redfin webpages, a Redfin spokesperson said in an email. Instead, if one of Compass’ private listings matches a Redfin visitor’s search criteria, Redfin will notify the visitor and direct them to the listing agent for information on the home, the spokesperson said.

The agreement marks a shift in Redfin’s stance in the debate over private listings, which has raged in the real estate industry over the last year.

Compass, which has ramped up its exclusive inventory since 2024, argues private listings allow sellers to test the market among a small pool of buyers without accumulating ‘days on market,’ which can affect home prices. But critics say that private listings limit transparency, can be used to monopolize inventory and create opportunities for discrimination.

Not in Washington

Unlike most parts of the country, the MLS for most of Washington, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, requires its members to submit all of their listings to its feed within one business day of any public marketing.

The NWMLS doesn’t allow Compass to post private Washington-based listings. In April, NWMLS temporarily cut off the brokerage’s access to its feed for violating its rule, triggering an ongoing lawsuit filed by Compass.

In a statement Friday, an NWMLS spokesperson stressed that listings need to be concurrently provided to NWMLS.

Publicly advertised listings support competition among brokers, transparency and fair housing principles, the spokesperson said.

“Northwest MLS does not support hiding information from consumers or removing factual data from listings that buyers rely on to make informed decisions when making what is likely the biggest purchase of their life,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

NWMLS considers Compass’ “coming soon” listings similar to private listings because they are technically active listings, but they are not submitted to the service.

“Those properties are not truly coming soon — they are available for sale now,” the spokesperson wrote.

Compass and Redfin said they comply with all MLS rules.

Compass’ private listings have drawn criticism from other real estate giants. Last year, Seattle-based Zillow banned any listings that were publicly marketed before being added to the MLS.

Compass sued Zillow over its ban, accusing the company of stifling competition and monopolizing the market. But last month, a judge denied Compass’ preliminary injunction to block Zillow’s ban.

Redfin also had pledged to implement a similar ban last year, but never did, as it was acquired by Rocket shortly afterward. The news release announcing Redfin’s pledge now has an editor’s note directing people to the syndication agreement news release “for Redfin’s latest position.”

In a statement, a Redfin spokesperson said the company would comply with all MLS rules — although they didn’t confirm whether “coming soon” and “Private Exclusive” listings from Washington would appear on its site.

“We're actively working to engage with NWMLS and other MLSs to ensure their policies honor seller choice and give brokerages like Redfin the flexibility to market homes based on our clients' wishes,” the spokesperson wrote.

Private listings could become prohibited by Washington law in the near future. A bill that would ban the sale or lease of real estate from being marketed only to an exclusive group is making its way through the Legislature after already passing the Senate.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, said in a news release in January that private listings make Washington’s housing market less fair for buyers and renters who are already struggling to compete.

“This bill would ensure buyers and renters can consider all available properties when they’re looking for a place to call home,” Liias said.

The agreement

In other parts of the country, Rocket expects Compass’ private and “coming soon” listings to draw increased traffic to Redfin’s website, according to its news release, creating more business opportunities for Redfin's agents.

But this business won’t include leads generated directly from Compass’ listings. Redfin will funnel those leads to Compass agents, according to an email from Compass CEO Robert Reffkin to the company’s agents obtained by The Seattle Times.

The lending arm of Rocket, Rocket Mortgage, will offer reduced mortgage rates to Compass clients — a 1-percentage-point rate reduction for the first year of their loan or a lender credit of up to $6,000. Rocket’s financing features will also appear on Compass’ platform.

“When barriers are removed and supply grows, affordability improves,” Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket Companies, said in the news release.

Reffkin said the agreement with Rocket gives Compass’ listings increased exposure to 60 million potential buyers, with “coming soon” listings prioritized in Redfin’s search results.

“We believe listing agents should be connected directly with interested buyers, and sellers should have the freedom to list their homes in the manner and method they choose without fear of misleading insights that damage its value,” Reffkin said.

Compass’ “coming soon” listings, which show homes before they’re listed widely, will not show “negative insights” like days on market, price drop history, climate risk and home valuation estimates, Reffkin wrote in his email to employees.

The announcement is a clear jab at Zillow, which showcases all those features, except for its recently dropped climate risk evaluations.

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