Editor’s Note: The RISMedia series Legislative Round-Up looks at pending and passed federal and state-level legislation that impacts real estate professionals.
Private listings a hot topic in state legislatures
Private listings are currently one of the most contentious debates in the real estate industry, at the center of ongoing litigation between real estate giants Compass and Zillow.
State legislatures are taking notice and introducing legislation that could make major changes to private listing rules. Wisconsin has already passed a law mandating brokers must place real estate listings on a publicly accessible website or platform within one business day, unless the property owner completes an explicit opt-out form. Private listing networks can still be used, but properties cannot be exclusively marketed on those networks.
Other states could soon follow that lead. Washington state has introduced a bill similar to the Wisconsin one, which has passed both houses of the Washington state legislature. It now heads to the governor’s desk to be signed or vetoed and, if passed, it would take effect on June 10. The bill attracted the support of Zillow (which is based in Seattle), the Washington Realtors® trade association and local Northwest MLS (NWMLS), the latter of which already bans private listings.
Rocket, which now owns Redfin (also based in Seattle), struck a deal earlier this year with Compass to syndicate the brokerage’s private and “coming soon” listings.
Speaking to the Seattle Times, the bill’s sponsor (Democratic State Senator Marko Liias) described private listings as “anticompetitive,” and said “it really just smacks of some of the discrimination and exclusion that we’ve seen in the past.”
Lawmakers on the other side of the country are also weighing in on the private listing debate. A bill in the Connecticut legislature would make the same changes as Wisconsin and Washington, requiring real estate brokers to publicly market one-to-four unit residential properties on a publicly accessible website unless the property’s seller signs an opt-out form; the legislation defines “publicly accessible” to include websites, public real estate portals or MLSs.
The Connecticut bill makes some other changes to state statutes, including changing the official term “real estate salesperson” to “real estate agent” and revising existing law to reflect that terminology change.
Senators put forth new proposal to keep private equity out of housing market
The presence of institutional investors in the housing market remains a controversial topic, with critics claiming large financial firms disadvantage individual homebuyers with less resources.
Currently under debate in Congress, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act—a comprehensive housing reform package—includes a section restricting the presence of institutional investors. While the bill has now passed the Senate, its ultimate success, with or without this provision, remains uncertain at this time.
Several bills, at both the national level and in various state legislatures, have also aimed to restrict institutional investors from buying and owning single-family homes; President Donald Trump also called on Congress to take action on this issue in January.
Prior to their chamber’s passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, Senate Democrats have since put forth their own proposal to address the issue. Called The American Homeownership Act, the bill currently has 18 sponsors, all Democrats.
The bill would remove tax benefits that corporate entities which own 50 or more single-family homes receive; smaller property owners, and entities that are actively contributing to boosting housing supply or redeveloping properties, would retain these tax breaks. Government savings from ending those tax breaks would be reinvested into developing more housing supply.
The bill would also increase antitrust enforcement over corporate ownership of housing; investors will be required to report property acquisition transactions within one year of the transaction. The bill will also set a threshold that an investor owning 30% or more of a market is anticompetitive and illegal.
One of the bill’s sponsors, Jeff Merkley (D-OR), had previously introduced another bill to restrict institutional investors, and spoke with RISMedia about it in March 2025. In a statement about the current bill, Merkley said that:
“Hedge funds are driving up home prices and rents across America as they gobble up single-family homes. They are a significant factor in killing the dream of homeownership and must be stopped. Even President Trump has acknowledged the problem. I’ll work with anyone, on either side of the aisle, who is serious about driving down home prices and rents.”
Tennessee legislature passes, then rejects, bill restricting institutional investors
It’s not just the national political sphere where legislation to restrict investor-owned homes is taking place. On Monday, March 9, the Tennessee State Senate passed a bill called the “Homes not Hedge Funds Act,” which would prohibit institutional investors from owning more than 100 single-family homes for the purposes of renting them.
Despite a 31-1 vote in favor during the bill’s passage in the Senate, its counterpart in the House subsequently failed a committee vote. Thus, it appears the legislation will not advance at this time.
While the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate, Charlane Oliver, is a Democrat, the Tennessee State Senate currently has a Republican supermajority of 27-6. This, combined with Trump’s call to restrict institutional investors, could indicate that support for such proposals is becoming more and more bipartisan. However, the bill’s ultimate failure to cross the finish line indicates the support is not universal.
Rhode Island looks to legalize co-living to expand affordability
The ROOM Act, recently introduced in the Rhode Island state legislature, aims to encourage the creation of co-living/single-room occupancy units—housing units where multiple residents have separate bedrooms but maintain communal areas in the building such as a kitchen.
“Rhode Island is currently experiencing a housing availability and affordability crisis,” the legislation reads, and co-living is defined as a solution to it. Under the law, municipalities would be required to allow co-living units in any zones where residential use is permitted, including explicitly single-family, multifamily, mixed-use and commercial zones.
The bill further encourages Rhode Island municipalities to convert existing commercial buildings, such as offices and hotels, into co-living units. “Such conversions typically require less plumbing and fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms, thus enabling the adaptive reuse of buildings which would not be economically feasible to convert to standard apartments,” the legislation reads.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Representative June Speakman (D), is chair of the Rhode Island House Commission on Housing Affordability. The bill currently has three other sponsors, all Democrats.
Maryland housing bill aims to address appraisal inaccuracies
On Thursday, February 26, the Maryland legislature held a hearing on several housing related bills. One of the bills under discussion was HB0920, which would require developers, builders, brokers or real estate agents to—within 30 days of a property sale—submit a record of the property’s final sale price into an MLS or a similar electronic database. The purpose of the legislation is, as testimony during the hearing noted, to combat a trend of appraisal inaccuracies.
The legislation itself—which had been introduced in the previous legislative session but did not pass—also cites 2024 findings by Maryland’s Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity of consistent undervaluations of properties owned by minorities.
Lisa May, the Maryland Association of Realtors® director of advocacy and public policy, testified at the hearing in support of the bill, arguing more data will result in more accurate appraisals. However, the association’s support came with an asterisk. In the interest of transparency, May noted that the Maryland Association of Realtors® and other Realtor® associations could stand to financially benefit if professionals are required to use the MLS. The clause in the bill stating that the MLS can be substituted for another electronic database is to enable the creation of such a database if the bill passes.
Indeed, a representative of the Maryland Builders Association testified in “respectful opposition” to the legislation, with the specific concern that the bill is “mandating our industry to use a privately-owned company.”
Indiana passes comprehensive housing bill to combat supply shortage
According to findings from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Indiana faces an affordable housing shortage. (The organization estimates that the state needs 139,000 units to house “extremely-low income individuals.”) A newly passed bill in Indiana, signed by Governor Mike Braun (R) on March 4, aims to spur more housing construction in the state by revising localities’ control over zoning, permitting and other land use.
The version of the bill that passed places new limits on a local unit’s (meaning a town, city or county) ability to impose or increase building approval and permitting fees. (This takes effect December 31, 2026.) It also delays the implementation of building permit fee increases to 180 days after the ordinance is implemented. Units are also required to approve any permitting application that complies with legal restrictions that were in place on the day the application was submitted.
Starting January 1, 2027, local units are also required to make regular reports about housing in their districts. For instance, the number of residential unit applications submitted in the year (including how many were approved and denied), as well as average and median rent and sale prices of homes, including year-over-year changes of those prices.
The bill’s original sponsor, State Representative Doug Miller (R), told the Chicago Tribune in January that the purpose of the bill is cutting red tape to encourage more housing development. Miller claimed that Indiana needs 50,000 more housing units to meet current demand, and cited the increasing age of first-time homebuyers as another problem to address.
The bill, when introduced in January, was reported to be a priority for Republican leadership in the Indiana legislature. Following its passage in the House, it attracted public debate within the legislature due to criticisms it could undermine local control over housing. The passed version is considered a compromise, with some ability for localities to opt out of new requirements. The compromises sparked some remarks from Indiana Democrats that the revisions could diminish the bill’s impact on increasing housing in the state.
Kentucky bill would freeze property taxes for homeowners aged 65-plus
The Kentucky State Senate has advanced a bill that would amend the state constitution to create a new law affecting the assessment and collection of property taxes. The bill would create a new section of the state constitution exempting homeowners aged 65 or older from any increase in the valuation of their home made since the year they turned 65.
Homeowners would thus only have to pay property taxes at the “frozen” rate—i.e., their property is assessed at $500,000 the year they turn 65. Five years later, even if the property is assessed at a higher value, the homeowner would still pay property tax based on the $500,000 assessment.
The measure, backed by the Senate Republicans, has been described as a way to assist homeowners on a fixed income who are seeing tax rates rise. The bill has seen local opposition due to the fact that reducing property taxes in this fashion would cut into public school funding.
The bill will need to pass both chambers of the Kentucky legislature by three-fifths majority, and then go before the voters as a ballot measure to be approved or rejected directly by them.
