It appears that the Zillow Group (Z) is more than ready for the imminent disappearance of listing data provided by ListHub in a little over a week.
When Zillow canceled its agreement with ListHub in January, a Zillow spokesperson told HousingWire that the site expected a “few hundred thousand” out of the 3.6 million listings on Zillow to be affected when the Listhub agreement ends on April 7, but thanks to a set of newly signed direct listing agreements, Zillow and Trulia are now saying that they’re about to host more listings than ever before.
According to Zillow, the sites signed new direct listing agreements with 16 more multiple listings services in the last week. The inclusion of the listing feeds from those MLSs plus the dozens of other recently announced listing providers will push Zillow and Trulia’s listing count to new heights for either site.
“Notwithstanding seasonality and market inventory fluctuations, as a result of the increase in direct feeds, Zillow and Trulia will have a larger percentage of active listings than they would have if the ListHub contracts had not ended,” the Zillow Group said in a release.
“The team has been working incredibly quickly to bring new MLS partners to Zillow and Trulia. Come April 8, our listings will be more robust and accurate than ever before – a huge benefit for consumers and agents as we head into home selling season,” said Errol Samuelson, Zillow Group chief industry development officer.
“This is a positive step forward for the industry, enabling brokers and agents to take complete control of their listings and decide exactly where they should be marketed,” Samuelson added. “This also ensures that sellers have their homes marketed on the Internet sites with the largest consumer audience. The process of establishing new partnerships has been incredibly encouraging, and we continue to talk to MLSs across the country and sign new contracts every day.”
The Zillow Group has been hard at work in recent months, signing MLSs and brokerages to listing agreements to cushion the blow of the ListHub data loss.
Zillow and ListHub had been at war over listing data provided to Zillow and Trulia for some time. It began in January, when Zillow announced its decision to cancel its listing agreement with ListHub, which is owned by Move, itself owned by News Corp (NWS), and operates Realtor.com for the National Association of Realtors.
The feud was escalated when Zillow completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Trulia in February, positioning Move and the Zillow Group as the principal combatants in the ongoing battle for online real estate supremacy.
Shortly after the completion of the Trulia acquisition, HousingWire reported that ListHub informed Trulia that it was terminating its listing agreement with Trulia, effective in five business days, meaning that any ListHub-provided listing on Trulia.com would have disappeared on Feb. 26, citing Zillow’s acquisition of Trulia the cause for the cancelation.
The Zillow Group threatened legal action against Move, in an attempt to keep the ListHub data flowing to Trulia.
Eventually, the two sides settled, agreeing to the termination of the ListHub agreements with both Zillow and Trulia on April 7.
But with the new listing providers, the Zillow Group said that it is not worried about the ListHub listings disappearing.
According to Zillow, the following MLSs will now provide direct listing data to both Zillow and Trulia:
Baldwin Multi-List – Milledgeville, Georgia
Brazoria County MLS – Lake Jackson, Texas
Central Missouri Board of Realtors – Marshall, Missouri
Consolidated MLS – Columbia, South Carolina
Fayetteville Regional MLS Association of Realtors – Fayetteville, North Carolina
Kanawha Valley Board of Realtors – Charleston, West Virginia
Kerrville Board of Realtors – Kerrville, Texas
MiRealSource – Troy, Michigan
Multiple Listing Service of Ulster County – Kingston, New York
Navarre Area Board of Realtors – Navarre, Florida
Reelfoot Regional MLS – Union City, Tennessee
South Central Wisconsin MLS Corporation – Madison, Wisconsin
South Padre Island Board of Realtors – South Padre Island, Texas
Southern Illinois Regional MLS – Collinsville, Illinois
Superior Area Association of Realtors – Duluth, Minnesota
Western Kentucky Regional MLS – Benton, Kentucky
