The fight over homes you can’t see yet, and what Zillow Preview means for buyers.

Some homes are shown privately before they’re listed publicly. Agents call it pre-marketing. Sellers like it: it can build buzz and test the price. Buyers often hate it, because the best homes can be gone before most people know they exist.

How it played out

1. 1April 2025: Zillow introduced Listing Access Standards. In practice, they kept off Zillow any home that had been marketed publicly somewhere else first without being widely shared.
2. 2June 2025: Compass sued Zillow, arguing the rule was an illegal “ban.”
3. 3February 6, 2026: A federal judge denied Compass’s request for a preliminary injunction.
4. 4March 17, 2026: Zillow announced Zillow Preview and loosened its standards, so listings only need to be “broadly accessible to the general public.”
5. 5March 18, 2026: Compass dismissed its lawsuit. It did so “without prejudice,” which means it can refile.

What Preview is

Preview puts pre-market homes on Zillow and Trulia with a clear pre-market label and the listing brokerage’s branding. Buyers can save the home and request a tour for when it goes live. Five brokerages launched it: Keller Williams, HomeServices of America, RE/MAX, Side and United Real Estate. Zillow says it’s designed to follow local MLS rules, and in most markets those require a listing to enter the MLS within one business day of public marketing.

Zillow also says its standards stay fully in force, and that private listing networks hurt fair access to information. Compass says Zillow reversed course. Both can be partly right, and the lawsuit could come back.

My read: public pre-marketing beats private-only. But “visible” isn’t the same as “available.” A pre-market home still can’t be toured until it’s active.