If your buyer had searched for homes in Volente, Texas, on Redfin in August or September, they might have come across a listing that had been on the market for just 27 hours. Zillow, Realtor.com and Homes.com all showed that same house had been sitting for 77 days.
That gap is an outlier, but it gets at a question plenty of buyers never think to ask: does it matter which site you search on?
To find out, Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Policy Center (CPC), compared more than 2,000 listings for 500 homes across all four major portals. His report, “Home Search I: Comparing the Big Real Estate Portals,” was released last week.
The short answer: mostly, no. But the differences that do exist are the kind agents should know about.
Most Homes Show Up Everywhere
Researchers looked at 500 homes for sale in 21 communities in or near 10 major metro areas in August and September. They counted only agent-listed homes, leaving out new construction sold by builders, auctions and for-sale-by-owner listings.
Of those 500 homes, 74.3% were listed on all four portals, and 83.4% were on at least three. Brobeck stated:
“Somewhat to our surprise, we found that the four portals to a large extent make the same information about the same properties available to home buyers and sellers.
“However, there are some differences among the portals that buyers especially should take note of before they begin their property search.”
The report also notes its limits. It’s a sample of 21 communities, so the findings can’t be applied to the whole country, and the CPC describes them as a starting point for larger studies.
Where the Portals Differ
Zillow: Zillow, which includes Trulia, was one of the two most complete portals, along with Realtor.com. Only 15 homes that showed up on at least two other portals were missing from Zillow, and it left out just three homes priced under $500,000. It also had the fewest days-on-market discrepancies of the four.
Realtor.com: Realtor.com missed only 12 homes, the fewest of any portal, and just two under $500,000. It was also the only portal that prominently listed homes that were “contingent” or “pending.” Zillow and Redfin show that status, but it’s harder to find. The CPC says that matters because, according to the release, “nearly 15 percent of these sales fall through.” The report did call out one problem: Realtor.com’s “contact” button, which the CPC calls deceptive because it “does not make it clear that the contact is with an unknown buyer agent, not the listing agent.”
Redfin: Redfin missed the most homes, 32. But it was the only portal that showed Coming Soon properties brokered by Compass and its affiliated companies, which Redfin labels “Early Access.” There were 14 of them in the sample, spread across four of the 21 communities, including Takoma Park, Maryland, Tarrytown, Texas, and Wilmette, Illinois. Redfin was also the most likely to show a lower days-on-market number than the other portals.
Homes.com: Homes.com missed 27 homes, including 15 homes priced under $500,000, more than any other portal. Redfin missed 10 in that price range.
Days on Market Isn’t Always What It Seems
For agents, the most useful part of the report might be what it found about days on market.
Most listings showed it. The exceptions were Compass’s Early Access listings and some listings in the Chicago area. But the number didn’t always match. Among homes listed on at least three portals, the CPC counted how often one portal’s figure was off by five days or more from at least two others. That happened 20 times on Homes.com, 14 on Redfin, 13 on Realtor.com and eight on Zillow. All 14 of Redfin’s were lower than what at least two other portals showed.
The culprit is often a relisting, which can reset the clock. That’s how one Volente home ended up at 27 hours on Redfin and 77 days everywhere else.
The CPC’s advice to buyers: check the listing on all four portals, and assume “the highest number is probably the most accurate.”
Why It Matters Right Now
The study comes as the portals fight over who gets listings and when. Zillow moved to ban listings that are publicly marketed off the MLS, Redfin has become an outlet for Compass’s Early Access listings, and Compass is in a legal fight with CRMLS over listing rules.
Brobeck’s concern is what buyers lose if those fights cut the portals off from listings.
“Our fear is that we would return to the pre-portal days when consumers were highly dependent on agents for information about listings. This would represent a huge loss for consumers that would erode their confidence in the housing market.”
The CPC says a second Home Search report will dig into those issues.
What to Tell Your Buyers
Based on the report, here’s what’s worth passing along:
- Search more than one portal, especially in a small community or a tight market. As Brobeck put it, “buyers would be wise to look at listings on all four portals.”
- Don’t trust a low days-on-market number on its own. Check the property history and compare portals. The highest figure is usually the right one.
- Look at contingent and pending homes, since some of those deals will fall apart.
- Know where Early Access listings live. In this sample, Compass’s Coming Soon homes showed up only on Redfin.
- Read the contact button before you click it. On Realtor.com, it may connect you with a buyer agent you’ve never met, not the listing agent.
And for agents, it’s a good reminder of something buyers often assume and rarely check: the site they like best might not be showing them the whole picture.
