The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) voted today to rescind the optional “no-commingling rule,” also known as the “segregation rule,” which disallowed MLS listings from being displayed alongside non-MLS listings.
“The National Association of REALTORS®’ Executive Committee repealed the optional no-commingling rule from the MLS Policy Handbook. This decision was based on feedback about the rule’s declining usage and relevance in local marketplaces,” an NAR spokesperson told RISMedia.
A source told RISMedia that there was no debate or controversy on the vote, after the MLS Issues and Policy Committee, which made the recommendation to repeal the rule, closed its meeting to the media on Tuesday during the Midyear Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C.
“The meeting was an internal NAR member event, and it was decided that it should be closed,” an NAR spokesperson told RISMedia via email, after an RISMedia journalist was denied entry to the meeting room. Previous meetings were open to the media.
The no-commingling rule, which was formally codified in the midst of controversy over VOWs and the rapidly growing internet listing market in the 2000s, recently fell out of favor with MLS, according to Zillow, which has long opposed the rule.
“Removing the outdated no-commingling rule is a meaningful step toward ensuring the home search process reflects the way people actually shop for homes today,” said Matt Hendricks, VP of Industry Affairs at Zillow, in a statement. “We remain committed to making the home search simpler, more transparent, and accessible for everyone.”
Although at one point over 70% of MLSs had adopted that rule, a Zillow spokesperson told RISMedia back in April that had fallen by at least 20%, coinciding with subpoenas issued to MLSs by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
As part of a private lawsuit from listing startup REX, which had accused Zillow and NAR of conspiring to undercut listing service competition with the rule, the DOJ had argued the no-commingling rule could be “mandatory in practice.” An appeals court eventually ruled that no laws were broken as REX failed to prove a conspiracy, and pointed to the fact that the no-commingling rule was, in fact, optional.
