Proposed legislation in Washington aims to ban private listing networks in the state. Washington REALTORS® is supporting the bill, which will likely go public later this week.

The legislation would revise certain real estate laws, with the bill’s major revision stipulating that seller’s agents must market properties to all members of the public — not to an exclusive group of buyers or brokers — unless the seller’s health or safety is at stake. Further revisions in the bill posit the “unfair” nature of private listing networks.

Washington REALTORS® said the legislation is intended to promote transparency and equal access in the residential housing market.

“Our goal is to be as consumer-friendly as humanly possible for anybody trying to buy or sell real property in our state. That’s been our focus as an organization for the past few years,” 2026 President Ryan Beckett told Seattle Agent. “This year, private listing networks were a common topic of conversation in the industry. As we engaged in these conversations, we recognized that limiting who can access a listing is really at odds with that goal.”

A representative for the association also gave this statement:

As an organization, Washington REALTORS® is committed to advocating for our members and their clients. We are the leading advocates for homeownership, with a long-standing record of representing the interests of homebuyers, sellers and property owners throughout the state through our legislative advocacy efforts. Our top public policy priority has consistently been to build communities that have a strong economy and attractive, affordable home choices — our North Star for our advocacy efforts is making Washington the most consumer-friendly state in which to buy and sell real property. Washington REALTORS® is supporting this bill because it’s another step toward that goal.

While no private listing networks were named outright in the language of the bill, Compass is a clear target. The brokerage, whose “Compass Exclusives” model utilizes a period of off-market sales prior to public listing on an MLS, has long maintained that private listing networks are an important aspect of seller choice.

A spokesperson for Compass articulated that private listing networks aren’t actually the focus of the legislation:

This bill is a veiled attempt by NWMLS and Zillow to preserve their market dominance by restricting homeowner choice and limiting competition, to the detriment of sellers and agents alike. Compass believes Washington homeowners deserve the same flexibility to choose when and where to market their homes as homeowners in every other state. Every other state offers flexibility that allows homeowners to test pricing, gain critical positioning insights, retain their privacy and confidentiality and generate early demand without public price reductions or days on the market.

The spokesperson added that “Compass fully supports and complies with fair housing laws.”

This article was last updated with Compass’ statement on Jan. 15.