Zillow and Redfin have agreed to an FTC settlement over a 2025 rental-listings partnership that the agency alleged curbed competition. The proposed deal would allow Redfin to keep syndicating Zillow rental listings while requiring the company to restart its rental-listings advertising business.
The Federal Trade Commission’s case focused on an arrangement in which Zillow paid Redfin to carry its rental inventory, according to reports from TechCrunch and The Verge. The agency alleged that Redfin agreed to end its own rental-advertising contracts and stop competing with Zillow for multifamily listings.
The FTC challenged limits on rental competition
Redfin had wound down its rental-listings advertising operation as part of the partnership. The FTC said the arrangement restricted competition both in rental advertising and in the market for multifamily listings, which cover apartments and other rental properties managed by larger landlords.
The settlement removes the restrictions challenged by the agency while preserving the listing-syndication relationship. That means Redfin can continue to display Zillow’s rental inventory, although it must also return to operating its own advertising business for rental properties.
The case matters because the agreement affected two major consumer real estate platforms and a market where landlords use advertising services to reach prospective tenants. Redfin’s exit from rental advertising reduced the number of platforms competing for those advertising contracts, while the multifamily restriction could limit options for property owners seeking to list inventory.
Redfin must rebuild its rental advertising operation
Restarting the business will require Redfin to resume competing for rental advertising contracts it had ended under the partnership. The FTC’s remedy signals that a platform can share inventory with a rival, provided the deal does not also prevent either company from pursuing adjacent advertising or listing business.
The available summaries do not say when the settlement will receive final approval, whether it includes monetary penalties or additional remedies, or how long the removed restrictions had been intended to last. They also do not detail the conditions governing Redfin’s return to rental-listings advertising.
