New 'Coming Soon' Listings Shake Up Housing Market

Real estate search engines are now featuring "Coming Soon" and "Preview" listings that omit sales history, a departure from traditional practices. This approach, pioneered by Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, allows properties to be marketed before officially hitting the market, a practice known as pre-marketing. Supporters believe this gives sellers and agents greater control, while critics express concerns about market fragmentation and reduced transparency for buyers.

Reffkin argues that while buyers should know a home's attributes, the "days on market" and "price drop history" are not essential for purchase decisions. This strategy is influencing the industry, with Zillow and Redfin now offering their own pre-market listing features. Redfin's interim CEO sees this as a potential revival for the stalled housing market, citing scarce inventory and high mortgage rates as current impediments.

Compass employs a "3-Phase Marketing Strategy," gradually rolling out listings from private exclusives to "coming soon" online listings, and finally to public listings. This method has faced initial industry pushback, with critics suggesting it could favor internal deals within brokerages and limit broad exposure for sellers. Legal challenges have also arisen, with Compass suing Zillow over listing policies, though Compass later dropped the suit after Zillow adapted its approach.

Despite market challenges, Compass has grown, notably through a significant acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate in January 2026, creating a brokerage with 340,000 agents globally. Other major brokerages, including eXp Realty and even Zillow with its "Zillow Preview" feature, are experimenting with similar pre-marketing tactics, indicating a broader industry evolution towards phased listing approaches.