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 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 ( COMP ) 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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