Two New York City renters have filed a class action lawsuit alleging that brokerage giant Compass deliberately hid rental listings from Zillow and its subsidiary StreetEasy, creating an artificial supply shortage that has driven up rents across the city. The plaintiffs, Peter Castaneda and Haley Gelfand, claim Compass has built a monopoly through years of acquiring rival brokerages and is now exploiting that dominance to withhold listings from free platforms, forcing renters towards brokers and higher fees.

The suit alleges Compass controls over 80 percent of Manhattan's rental listings and follows a "playbook" of hiding units from public view to boost agent revenue and its own stock price. Zillow responded to the mass delistings by barring such private listings from ever appearing on its platforms, prompting Compass to file its own antitrust suit against Zillow, which it later withdrew after a judge deemed it unlikely to succeed. The dispute has also drawn scrutiny from regulators, including a probe backed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, while Compass declined to comment and Zillow said it supports efforts to hold brokers accountable.