Zillow settlement requires Redfin rental listings market return
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Zillow has reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over an antitrust case concerning a $100 million deal it struck with rival property platform Redfin. The agreement had paid Redfin to withdraw from the internet listing service (ILS) market for apartment rentals for up to nine years, a move the FTC said unlawfully eliminated a major competitor and harmed renters and property managers through reduced competition and innovation.
Under the settlement, the anticompetitive terms of the original arrangement are reversed, requiring Redfin to re-enter the rental listings market with "significantly more listings" than before. Zillow must also share employee information with Redfin to aid recruitment and allow its existing customers to renegotiate contracts without penalty. The case, first filed in September 2025, had also been joined by Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Virginia and Washington before being merged with the FTC's action in November 2025.
- Zillow settles FTC antitrust case over $100m Redfin payoff deal
- Redfin must re-enter apartment rental listings market with more listings
- Zillow to share staff data and let customers renegotiate contracts free
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Zillow and Redfin are two of the biggest online platforms in the United States for property listings, including flats and houses for rent. In 2021, the two companies struck a deal worth around $100 million in which Redfin agreed to stop competing in the online rental listings business for up to nine years.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the government body that enforces competition law, investigated this deal and concluded it was anticompetitive. It argued that paying a rival to exit the market reduced choice and innovation for renters and landlords searching for rental properties online, and several US states later joined the legal action before it was combined into a single FTC case.
The case matters because it addresses how far companies can go in striking deals with competitors, and because rental listings are a service used by large numbers of people trying to find somewhere to live. A settlement between Zillow and the FTC would determine what happens next in the dispute and what conditions Zillow must meet going forward.
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