Two of the most well-known U.S. real estate platforms will have to modify a trade agreement that had generated a strong dispute with the anti-monopoly authorities. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the attorneys general of five states announced on Monday a deal with Zillow and Redfin that seeks to restore competition in the digital market used by millions of people to find apartments for rent.
The case originated from a contract signed in February 2025, by which Zillow paid $100 million to Redfin. According to the FTC, in exchange, Redfin closed its independent multi-family rental advertising business, transferred customers to Zillow and agreed to stay out of that market for up to nine years.
The new deal forces Redfin to rebuild that business and go back to directly compete with Zillow.But what does this mean for a person who simply enters these pages to look for an apartment?
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Before the 2025 agreement, Zillow and Redfin were two of the leading U.S. networks offering advertising services for multi-family properties. Zillow operates, among others, Zillow Rentals, Trulia and HotPads, while Redfin’s network includes sites like Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com.
In February 2025, both companies reached an agreement by which Zillow became the exclusive provider of certain multi-family rental ads that appeared on Redfin sites.
The deal reached mainly on properties of 25 units or more. Zillow paid $100 million and Redfin began closing its own business for those advertisers, terminating contracts with customers and directing them to Zillow.
For the FTC, that was not just a trade alliance. The agency argued that the deal eliminated a major competitor from a already concentrated market and prevented Zillow and Redfin from having to compete with each other for prices, quality of service and innovation.
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One of the most striking data arising during the litigation has to do with the price paid by owners and administrators to advertise houses. According to an expert estimate submitted by the FTC and the states, after Redfin stopped competing, Zillow customers paid an average of 14.5% more for each ad.
Some administrators even stopped buying advertising on these platforms, according to information presented during the case. This does not mean that rental of the apartments increased 14.5% due to the agreement between Zillow and Redfin: the percentage refers to the advertising costs faced by certain commercial customers of Zillow.
However, regulators argued that less competition could also end up harming those looking for housing, by reducing ad options and decreasing platform incentives to offer better services.
New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that the agreement threatened to raise costs for both owners and tenants and hinder the search for a home.
The deal announced on Monday changes a substantial part of that alliance.Redfin will have to re-operate as an independent competitor in the rental advertising business.
The company must resume that activity within six months after the order is finalised. That will involve rebuilding the necessary technological infrastructure, hiring a general manager, vendors and customer service staff, and re-selling their own advertising products.
In addition, Redfin committed to investing millions of dollars over several years to re-develop this business.
The FTC also removed restrictions that prevented Redfin from selling advertising on its own account and showing ads from its own customers.
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The deal does not mean, however, that the two companies will cut off all commercial relations. Redfin will be able to continue showing ads provided by Zillow, and both companies indicated that their listing distribution agreement could continue at least until 2030.
The fundamental difference is that Redfin will no longer have to limit itself to those ads. You can get your own customers and compete with Zillow while simultaneously incorporating inventory from the rival platform.
Zillow defended from the beginning his alliance and assured that it benefited consumers by allowing more properties to appear on different platforms. The company said on Monday that the new deal will allow it to retain that advertising distribution while Redfin is again developing its own offer.
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The resolution includes some unusual conditions intended to allow Redfin to quickly rebuild the business it had closed. Zillow will have to allow Redfin to interview certain company employees and will have to remove non-competition clauses or restrictions that may prevent such hiring.
There will also be a nine-month window, once Redfin returns to the market, during which certain Zillow customers will be able to renegotiate their contracts without cost or penalty to contract Redfin services.
Redfin, for its part, may face economic sanctions if it does not comply with the deadlines and commitments established to reactivate its business.
not necessarily . The case is not directly about the monthly price that a owner charges for an apartment, but about the competition between digital platforms used to advertise large multi-family properties. Therefore, the agreement does not imply an automatic reduction in the revenues of Zillow, Redfin or any other site.
What the FTC and states expect is that, as there are again two companies competing to attract owners, managers and tenants, there are more options, lower advertising costs and greater incentives to improve platforms.
The FTC said restoring competition should help reduce costs and boost innovation for both property managers and those looking for housing.
The agreement also has special relevance for residents of New York. Letitia James’ office formed part of the lawsuit along with prosecutors in Arizona, Connecticut, Virginia and Washington, as well as the FTC.
As part of the resolution, Zillow and Redfin will have to pay $2 million to the coalition of states that participated in the case. The federal lawsuit had been filed in 2025 and the trial was scheduled to begin on August 24, 2026, but the parties reached the agreement before it proceeded.
For consumers, the most visible change will come when Redfin returns to independently offering its own multi-family property ads. The regulators expect that competition will return to alternative owners and tenants who had disappeared after the $100 million deal between the two companies.
