The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a settlement to resolve its antitrust litigation against Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) and Redfin, a division of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), over their $100 million rental housing agreement.
Last October, the FTC and the attorneys general of five states sued the companies over an agreement from February 2025 where Redfin agreed to withdraw as a competitor in the online listings market for multifamily rental properties for nine years in exchange for a $100 million payment and other compensation from Zillow. As part of that deal, 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.
The lawsuit claimed the companies inaccurately presented this agreement as a “partnership” when it removed Redfin as direct competition for Zillow, thus enabling the risk for higher rents and transaction fees for users seeking rental housing. The companies were accused of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 (illegal agreement in restraint of trade) and Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18 (illegal acquisition that substantially lessens competition).
The FTC stated the settlement voids the agreement that restricted Redfin’s ability to compete independently against Zillow. Redfin will be given up to six months restart its online listings market for rental housing and will be required to hire the appropriate staffing to operate that business. Furthermore, Redfin will be required to continue “syndicating Zillow’s listings unencumbered by the anticompetitive restraints that prevented Redfin from fighting to secure additional listings.”
Zillow will be required to provide employee information that enables Redfin to interview Zillow employees while waiving noncompetitive requirements that would prevent their employees from accepting a job with Redfin. Zillow is also prohibited from interfering with Redfin’s ability to recruit and retain these employees.
Zillow will allow any of its online listings customers whose contract cannot be canceled within three months to renegotiate their contracts without cost or penalty. Zillow must notify customers of this development after Redfin relaunches its advertising business. Zillow also will be prohibited from engaging in any other conduct aimed at preventing or impeding any customer from entering into a contract with Redfin.
Under the order, Redfin faces unspecified monetary penalties if it fails to follow on the terms of the settlement. Zillow and Redfin must also notify the FTC before entering into any syndication agreement for multifamily rental properties that would restrict either party to compete for customers.
“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.”
Michael Sherman, general manager and senior vice president of Zillow Rentals, welcomed the settlement.
“This resolution is a win for renters and multifamily housing providers,” said Sherman. “Our syndication partnership with Redfin has already expanded access to multifamily listings across multiple platforms, bringing more leads and leases to property managers and more options to renters. Now, with the ability to offer more multifamily advertising solutions in addition to the existing partnership, we can do even more to support the marketplace. The data shows the pro-consumer and procompetitive benefits of this partnership. This positive resolution enables us to keep our energy on innovating for renters and property managers, and ultimately making renting easier, more affordable and better for everyone.”
As of this writing, neither Redfin nor Rocket Companies issued a statement on the settlement.
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