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There’s broad dissatisfaction with Zillow’s primacy in the listing space, according to the latest Intel Index survey of real estate professionals. Here’s what they say they want to see instead.

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The vast majority of real estate agents don’t rely on buying leads from a listing portal.

Despite this, many agents and brokerage leaders have developed rooting interests in the so-called “portal wars” between Zillow and its fiercest rivals.

In its latest monthly survey, Intel set out to measure the extent of the brokerage world’s investment in efforts to challenge Zillow’s supremacy in the listing space — and to gauge support for each of the major competitors.

Among other findings, the results shed light on which endgames — from “Your listing, your lead,” to brokerage-owned alternatives — agents would find most palatable.

Read the full findings in this week’s report.

Taking aim at a giant

Throughout much of the last year, an analysis of Inman web traffic suggests that readers were highly engaged with news related to Zillow’s listing rules, efforts by rivals such as Homes.com to unseat Zillow, and attacks on Zillow business practices by the brokerage giant Compass.

And the vast majority of agents Intel surveyed in December confirmed that they were following the portal wars, even if they had little at stake in terms of direct lead-buying.

Question for agents: “Which statement best describes your relationship to the so-called ‘portal wars’ between Zillow, Homes.com and other competitors?”

10 percent — My business depends substantially on buying leads, so my bottom line is directly affected by who wins.
39 percent — I’m not directly affected, but I’m invested in the competition because whichever portal wins will hold extra sway within the industry and power over how its data is used.
38 percent — I follow it with some interest, but I don’t think the portal wars affect me or the industry all that much.
14 percent — The topic doesn’t interest me at all.

In addition, Intel sought to identify what outcomes real estate professionals most wanted to see emerge from the portal wars.

Few said they wanted to see a version of this where Zillow’s model remained on top.

Less than 7 percent of agents surveyed in December told Intel that they believed Zillow’s continued dominance in the listing space would be best for their business.

In fact, just about any alternative “portal wars” endgame scenario was more popular among the agents surveyed than the Zillow-centric status quo.

28 percent of agent respondents favored a hypothetical scenario where a challenger portal with a “Your listing, your lead” approach unseats Zillow with consumers.
Another 18 percent of agents preferred a model where brokerages like Compass seize control of their own listings, building out increasingly large private networks that protect more listings from use by portals like Zillow.
Perhaps surprisingly, as many as 10 percent of agent respondents favored a model where big tech swoops in and takes market share from Zillow. In this scenario, a platform like Google or ChatGPT would become the main place where consumers research home listings.

But the largest group of agents still pine for a different path forward — one that has proven enticing to industry insiders for years, but difficult to actually pull off.

A plurality, or 38 percent, of agent respondents rejected the options above in favor of an effort by MLSs to coordinate to create a national, industry-controlled home-listing platform that competes directly with Zillow and the other portals.

Numerous challenges — including regulatory scrutiny of the industry and the sheer mindshare that Zillow holds with consumers — have made this particular effort an uphill battle for industry insiders in the past. But an industry-controlled listing platform that remains independent from the major brokerage companies remains an attractive idea for many real estate professionals.

In Part 2 of this series, Intel will explore even more specific questions, such as: Which specific listing platforms do real estate professionals trust most — and least? How do agents think their businesses would fare if a big tech platform like Google or ChatGPT became a dominant home-listing gateway for consumers? In what ways do agent attitudes differ across different brokerage types and business models? And where do brokerage leaders stand on all this?

Keep an eye out for these findings in the next Intel report.

Methodology notes: This month’s Inman Intel Index survey ran from Dec. 19, 2025-Jan. 5, 2026, and received 468 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.

Email Daniel Houston

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