5 States Sue Zillow, Redfin Over $100m Rental Agreement One Day After Ftc Suit

Zillow and Redfin are facing yet another lawsuit related to their multifamily rental syndication deal. On Wednesday, attorneys general in Virginia, Arizona, New York, Connecticut and Washington filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, that makes claims identical to those alleged by the the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

Like the FTC’s suit, this lawsuit alleges that “Zillow has no interest in continuing to compete with Redfin on the merits of its rental advertising offering.”

“Instead, on February 6, 2025, Zillow and Redfin executed an unlawful agreement to remove competition from this already highly concentrated market, starting with a $100 million payment to Redfin to exit the Internet Listing Services advertising market,” the complaint states. 

The complaint makes identical claims about Redfin agreeing to stop selling multifamily advertising, to terminate existing multifamily advertising contracts, and to terminate and transfer employees, as well as proprietary data to Zillow. 

“This agreement is nothing more than an end run around competition that insulates Zillow from head-to-head competition on the merits with Redfin for customers advertising multifamily buildings,” the filing states. 

In an email, a Redfin spokesperson reiterated the firm’s statement from Tuesday, noting that the firm is “confident [it] will be vindicated by a court of law.”

“Our partnership with Zillow has given Redfin.com visitors access to more rental listings and our advertising customers access to more renters. By the end of 2024, it was clear that the existing number of Redfin advertising customers couldn’t justify the cost of maintaining our rentals sales force. Partnering with Zillow cut those costs and enabled us to invest more in rental-search innovations on Redfin.com, directly benefiting apartment seekers,” the spokesperson added.

A Zillow spokesperson shared a similar perspective: “Our listing syndication with Redfin benefits both renters and property managers and has expanded renters’ access to multifamily listings across multiple platforms. It is pro-competitive and pro-consumer by connecting property managers to more high-intent renters so they can fill their vacancies and more renters can get home. We remain confident in this partnership and the enhanced value it has delivered and will continue to deliver to consumers.”