Zillow and Redfin have settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and five states, concluding a legal dispute over a 2025 partnership that the FTC alleged harmed competition in the rental-listing market. The settlement was announced on Monday, coinciding with the scheduled trial date. The agreement stems from a deal in which Redfin agreed to display Zillow’s rental listings on its websites, potentially excluding Redfin from the rental advertising business for up to nine years. Redfin owns Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com, two significant rental-listing platforms.
According to the FTC and attorneys general from Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Washington, Zillow agreed to pay Redfin $100 million to prevent Redfin from competing with Zillow. While the companies defended the partnership as a means to provide renters with access to a broader range of listings, the FTC argued that the arrangement allowed Zillow to pay a major competitor to cease competition, potentially leading to higher prices, less favorable terms for property managers, and reduced quality of rental listings for consumers. Under the proposed settlement, Redfin is required to reenter the rental advertising business, and restrictions that previously limited its ability to compete independently for property-management customers have been removed. However, the settlement does not entirely terminate the relationship between the two companies; Redfin can continue displaying Zillow’s rental listings while also competing for its own customers, selling advertising, and pursuing new rental clients without sharing sensitive business information with Zillow. Source