MRED provides broker-licensed agents with access to a private listing network that enables pre-sold listings.
In the latest development to engulf the industry debate over when, where and how real estate listings are sold, one of the nation’s largest multiple listing services announced Friday that it will expand nationwide with support from Compass International Holdings.
MRED, a Chicagoland MLS with more than 48,000 subscribers, announced a partnership with Compass International Holdings, committed to providing nationwide listing inventory to MRED’s Private Listing Network (PLN) participants. Its inventory includes Compass Private Exclusive and upcoming listings.
The brokerage giant also announced that it will subsidize a portion of the cost of joining MRED for the first 100,000 Compass agents who join MRED as full members and will provide a data feed of all listings to MRED.
“Giving homeowners choices in the marketing of their properties is the right thing to do,” Compass International Holdings CEO Robert Refkin said in a statement. “We also want to support MLSs like MRED that evaluate, support, and protect their real estate agent clients from retaliation by other MLSs and portals. We also want to ensure that real estate agents are able to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities to their home seller and home buyer customers.”
For nearly a decade, MRED’s Private Listing Network has offered agents a way to sell listings to other agents without making them publicly available.
However, the policy of allowing that pre-marketing phase became a topic of discussion leading up to 2026, when Zillow began targeting MRED’s private listing distribution network. The portal claims these networks reinforce segregation and obscure consumers’ access to homes for sale.
At the time, Zillow was trying to curb the growing interest in agents looking for ways to sell listings before distributing them to the broader public, partly through the MLS and partly through real estate search portals.
Since then, Compass has partnered with Rocket to display all of its listings directly to consumers searching for Redfin.
Shortly after this partnership was announced, Zillow announced its own pre-marketing option called Zillow Preview, along with partnerships with dozens of brokerages.
MRED has long defended its private listing network, saying it gives sellers more options for putting their homes on the market.
MRED CEO Rebecca Jensen said in a statement that “MLS is intended to foster collaboration between agencies in support of client needs and does not dictate marketing or business model practices.” “Recent improvements to our listing display options continue our goal of listening to the evolving needs of our subscribers. We’re excited to expand the services we offer at Compass across the country, and we hope other brokerages will join us.”
Specifically, MRED moved last month to remove the requirement that members belong to the National Association of Realtors.
A nationwide presence means MRED is poised to become an MLS option for agents considering pre-market listings in ways not permitted by local MLS rules.
MRED also said it would “protect and protect agents participating in PLN from bans and penalties imposed by third-party portals and IDX feed recipients.”
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