Both portals say the syndication agreement signed last year will benefit both renters looking for housing and property managers looking to rent out buildings.
Zillow and Redfin have both asked a judge to dismiss a federal lawsuit challenging a $100 million rental syndication deal between the two portals agreed to last year.
The agreement includes Zillow syndicating and serving as the exclusive source for multifamily rental properties on Redfin. Instead, Redfin sends Zillow leads from renters.
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit in September seeking to permanently block the deal, calling it an “end of competition.” The next day, five state attorneys general filed similar lawsuits, and the two lawsuits were later combined into one.
Zillow and Redfin said Tuesday that neither suit could make antitrust claims. In separate filings made the same day, the companies said the partnership was pro-consumer.
“In recent years, Redfin has struggled to expand its rental listings, while Zillow had an ample supply of rental listings, but was constantly striving to provide a better platform for renters and stronger performance for advertisers,” the companies wrote. “To address these issues, in February 2025, Zillow and Redfin announced a ‘partnership’ centered around a syndication agreement.”
The companies said offering more rental properties would be a benefit for renters looking for a place to live and apartment owners looking to rent.
“Property managers who advertise on Zillow now have automatic access to the Second Listing Service, giving them access to more prospective renters who could potentially generate leads,” the companies wrote. “By offering more attractive packages, this partnership will allow Zillow to more effectively compete with the many other companies competing for property managers’ advertising dollars.”
One such company is CoStar. CoStar owns Apartments.com and considers Zillow a top competitor for both rental and condominium listings.
The FTC took issue with the fact that Zillow and Redfin are among the top three rental search platforms in the country, along with CoStar. Three competing portals accounted for more than 85% of online rental property revenue last year, the commission said.
The two portals questioned this figure in their filings.
“These allegations do not identify the combined equity of Zillow and Redfin, the two companies actually involved in the partnership,” the companies wrote. “Nor does it explain how the ‘number of rental properties’ and ‘revenue’ on which these numbers are based were calculated.”
“Plaintiffs can advance their claims of increased market concentration only by lumping CoStar with defendants, even though a partnership would allow both Zillow and Redfin to counter CoStar’s dominance in the rental advertising industry,” the companies said.
The lawsuit is one of several challenges for Zillow in key revenue segments.
Zillow’s rental division revenue increased 41% in the third quarter from a year ago. Revenue in the company’s mortgage division increased 36%. This compares to the company’s total revenue growth of 16% in the same quarter.
Among other legal issues, Zillow is also facing a lawsuit alleging that the portal inflated costs to homebuyers through its Zillow Preferred referral program (formerly Zillow Flex). The program charges up to 40% commission to agents who successfully close deals after receiving leads generated on the platform.
The lawsuit has since expanded to focus on Zillow Preferred agents getting homebuyers pre-approved for Zillow Home Loans.
In December, Zillow addressed various lawsuits in a video message from Zillow Preferred senior vice president and general manager Zuhaira Washington to Zillow Preferred agents (formerly Zillow Flex).
“The allegations in these lawsuits are false and fundamentally flawed with the way Zillow Preferred operates,” Washington said in the video. “Everything we do starts and ends with the consumer. Buyers and sellers have the right to choose who they work with and have transparency throughout the process. And that has been the core of our model from day one.”
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