WASHINGTON, D.C. / CRWE PRESS RELEASE / August 24, 2026 - The Federal Trade Commission, joined by five states, today notified the court that it will file a stipulated order that resolves its litigation against Zillow and Redfin and restores competition in the online platforms that renters use to find apartments and property managers use to list rentals. 

The order eliminates the key term in a 2025 agreement between Zillow and Redfin under which Zillow paid Redfin $100 million for Redfin to shut down its internet listing services (ILS) business, exclusively repost apartment listings provided by Zillow, transition its customers to Zillow and stay out of the ILS market for up to nine years. The order also requires Redfin to reenter the ILS market with far more apartment listings and to make enforceable commitments to invest millions of dollars to ensure Redfin will be a far stronger competitor than it was before the 2025 agreement. Restoring competition in the ILS market is expected to drive down costs and spur innovation that benefits renters and property management companies.

“Today’s settlement unwinds an agreement under which Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to stop competing and hand off all its customers to Zillow,” said Daniel Guarnera, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “This kind of payment to a competitor to exit a market and stop competing violates the antitrust laws. 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. Today’s great result delivers on the Trump-Vance FTC’s commitment to make sure Americans benefit from competition in markets for housing and the products and services Americans use to find their homes.”

In a complaint filed in September, the FTC alleged that Zillow Group Inc., Zillow Inc. and Redfin Corporation entered into an illegal agreement in February 2025 that dismantled Redfin as a competitor in the ILS advertising market for multifamily rental properties. ILS services are websites that allow consumers to search for rental housing. At the time, Zillow and Redfin operated two of the nation’s largest rental ILS networks, including sites such as Zillow Rentals, Trulia and HotPads (owned by Zillow) and Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com (owned by Redfin). The FTC alleged the arrangement was an end run around competition that insulated Zillow from competing head-to-head on the merits with Redfin and further concentrated an already condensed market. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the states of Arizona, Connecticut, New York and Washington filed a similar complaint shortly after the FTC, and the cases were consolidated in November 2025.

The complaints alleged that Zillow paid Redfin to get out of the market for ILS advertising and to stay out for up to nine years. Zillow paid Redfin $100 million, and Redfin agreed to end its contracts with advertising customers and help transfer them to Zillow. Redfin also agreed to make its sites mirror images of Zillow’s listings, ending its role as an independent competitor for multifamily property advertising customers. 

The terms of the proposed order, which will be in place for 10 years, require Redfin and Zillow to amend their agreement and implement several provisions aimed at restoring competition to the ILS market including: 

• Remove anticompetitive provisions: The order removes restrictions on Redfin’s ability to compete independently against Zillow in the ILS advertising market. This condition includes eliminating any limitations or restrictions on Redfin’s ability to sell advertising services and display its own customers’ listings, as well as any term requiring Redfin to divulge nonpublic or competitively sensitive business information to Zillow.
• Require Redfin to reenter ILS market: Redfin has committed to restart its ILS rental advertising business within six months of the order being finalized, including building the technological infrastructure to allow its customers’ listings to be advertised across Redfin’s portfolio of rental sites. In addition, Redfin will hire a general manager, salespeople and a fully trained customer support team for the ILS business and launch advertising to promote the business. Redfin has made a multiyear commitment to operate this business, assuring that ILS customers have a robust set of options to choose from well into the future. 
• Commitments to promote Redfin’s success: Redfin’s reentry will be supported by commitments that ensure that Redfin has the incentive and ability to grow its ILS business. Critically, Redfin will continue syndicating Zillow’s listings unencumbered by the anticompetitive restraints that prevented Redfin from fighting to secure additional listings. As a result, Redfin will relaunch with significantly more listings than it had prior to the 2025 agreement. In addition, Redfin has committed to spend millions of dollars to grow its ILS business and to make substantial investments in this business for years to come.
• Facilitate recruiting of Zillow employees: To facilitate Redfin’s reentry, Zillow is required to provide employee information to enable Redfin to interview Zillow employees. Zillow also must waive any noncompete, anti-poaching or other impediments that might prevent these employees from accepting employment with Redfin. Moreover, Zillow is prohibited from interfering with Redfin’s ability to recruit and retain these employees.
• Facilitate contracting with Redfin: For a nine-month period after Redfin restarts its ILS business, Zillow will allow any ILS customer whose contract cannot be canceled within three months to renegotiate their contracts without cost or penalty, allowing them to benefit from the return of an important competitor. Zillow must notify customers of this contract flexibility soon after Redfin relaunches its advertising business. Zillow also will be prohibited from engaging in any other conduct aimed at preventing or impeding any ILS customer from entering into a contract with Redfin.

Under the order, Redfin faces monetary penalties for failing to follow through on the commitments to restart its ILS business within the prescribed timeframes and must provide regular updates to the FTC on its compliance with the order’s requirements. Zillow and Redfin must also notify the Commission before entering into any syndication agreement for multifamily rental properties that contains a provision that restricts the ability of either party to compete for ILS customers.

The Commission vote approving the stipulated final order was 2-0. The FTC filed the proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Joining the proposed order are the state Attorneys General of Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Virginia and Washington.

NOTE: Stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

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Press Release Reference

FTC Sues Zillow and Redfin Over Illegal Agreement to Suppress Rental Advertising Competition

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Source: Federal Trade Commission