Redfin and Zillow must change unlawful agreement that hurts competition, FTC says

Redfin and Zillow must amend a commercial agreement the real estate firms struck last year because it weakened competition in the home rental market and harmed consumers, federal regulators said on Monday.

The settlement, announced Monday by the Federal Trade Commission, resolves an antitrust lawsuit the agency filed last year. The FTC alleged that Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to shut down listing services for multifamily properties and to repost exclusively Zillow-provided apartment listings. 

As part of the agreement, Redfin also agreed to end its contracts with its advertising customers and transfer them to Zillow, according to the complaint.

The FTC said Monday that it will require the real estate platforms to remove anticompetitive provisions from their commercial agreement. Redfin will be required to reenter the market with more home listings to ensure renters have a wider selection.

Restoring competition will bring down prices and benefit both renters and property management companies, the agency said in a statement. The FTC reached a deal with Zillow the morning the case was scheduled to go to trial at a district court in Virginia.

“This settlement delivers better, quicker, more certain results for both renters and property management companies than we would have been able to achieve after prevailing at trial, including firm and enforceable commitments by Redfin to relaunch its rentals advertising business,” Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement.

A Redfin spokesperson said the agreement allows the company to continue its rental partnership with Zillow “through at least 2030 while building and investing in a standalone rentals business of our own.”

A Zillow spokesperson applauded the settlement, describing it in an email as “great news for renters, housing providers and the rental market broadly.”