Real estate giants crack down on exclusive 'off-market' home listings in major shift for buyers

Two major real estate marketplaces are making big changes to what home listings can appear on their websites. 

Zillow and Redfin are both taking aim at listings of homes up for sale that have been publicly marketed prior to being entered into the multiple listing service (MLS), taking steps to bar them from their respective platforms. 

In April, Zillow unveiled new "listing access standards" for its site under which the real estate marketplace said it will not publish listings if they...