How New York Stacks Up In Fight Over Private Listings

New York in April became the latest state to wade into the fight over private listings. Now, the bill is headed for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk.

Hochul is poised to approve the legislation, sealing New York’s place among the states with their own plays against private listing networks.

The most hawkish example so far took effect this week, with Washington state banning exclusive “pocket listings” after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the bill into law in March, marking the adoption of some of the toughest legal restrictions on how and where agents market listings so far.

Washington’s statute bars agents from marketing properties to exclusive groups of brokers or buyers unless those listings are also available to the general public. The law, which allows exceptions for sellers concerned about their health or safety, also imposes fines of up to $500 per violation, with repeat offenders at risk of losing their licenses.

New York’s proposed law appears more flexible. If adopted, the legislation would mandate that brokers add their sale and rental listings to a public-facing website in a “timely manner” after beginning marketing, unless the seller signs a disclosure agreement. Agents who violate the law face fines up to $5,000.

Similar litigation is in effect in Wisconsin, and other versions have advanced closer to reality in Connecticut, Illinois and Hawaii.

But Washington and New York are particularly ripe battlegrounds for the issue, which has been posed as a fight for access amid a housing and affordability crisis.

Authorities in the Empire State have been bumping up against the industry in recent months.

After Mamdani’s administration pushes along his promised rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments, state lawmakers approved a tax on some of the most expensive second homes in the five boroughs.

The Real Deal reported last week that the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating Compass over antitrust concerns following its merger with Anywhere Real Estate.

The New York City-headquartered brokerage and its CEO, Robert Reffkin, have been on the front lines of the private listing fight, pushing back against industry rules that require brokers to upload properties to multiple listing services and launching its own private exclusive network.

Compass’ battle for the practice has also landed firmly on Washington’s shores. Compass sued the Seattle-based Northwest MLS last year over its rules prohibiting agents from marketing listings without making them available to other brokerages through the MLS.

The MLS filed counterclaims against Compass, alleging it “deliberately misleads consumers and brokers” by marketing homes through channels, such as its private exclusive network, that don’t record days on market.

Not so fast…

This week also marked the first anniversary of New York City’s controversial ban on broker fees.

City Council approved the law, known as the FARE Act, in November 2024, despite significant pushback from industry leaders. The provision, which barred agents from charging fees to tenants who didn’t hire them, took effect on June 11, 2025.

Last November, The Real Deal tracked the fallout from the law, including an immediate drop in Streeteasy listings on its first day in effect, as brokers and landlords pulled their properties from the market to ensure compliance.

Inventory largely recovered after the initial sharp decline, though listings were still lower than year-ago levels, which a Streeteasy spokesperson at the time attributed to broader supply trends rather than the law itself.

Since the city began enforcing the law in June, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has received more than 2,000 complaints, according to the City Reporter. Of those, the city issued 74 summonses related to 100 alleged violations, 46 of which resulted in $27,000 in fines. New York renters have also received roughly $15,000 in broker fee refunds.

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