Zillow's "coming soon": staying for long?

The service, which was introduced earlier this month, imitates a traditional sight in the in-person property market: the "coming soon" board, which advertises to passers-by that a home is about to come onto the market. Now, Zillow's website has an online equivalent, giving house-hunters the chance to see listings that will officially be up for sale within the next 30 days.

They will then be allowed to contact agents and become pre-approved before the home is on the market.

"By offering a glimpse into a market’s future housing inventory, home shoppers can rest assured they have the broadest possible view of the local market to find the right home, and sellers can feel confident their home is being marketed as widely as possible," said Jeremy Wacksman, vice president of marketing and product management."

Nonetheless, the addition has not been welcomed by everyone. Writing on Inman News, Doug Miller, Executive Director of Consumer Advocates in American Real Estate, labelled the conduct as "pseudo-illegal" and said that it "thrives on breaching trust, deceiving clients, and intentionally putting them in a situation of duress and then profiting from it”.

Inman News also conducted a poll to see if readers were broadly in favour or against the feature. 70 per cent said they did not approve.