Attorney General Tong Stops Illegal Scheme to Eliminate Competition Between Zillow and Redfin

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08/24/2026

Attorney General Tong Stops Illegal Scheme to Eliminate Competition Between Zillow and Redfin

Connecticut and Four Other States Sued After Zillow Paid Redfin $100 Million to Shut Down Its Apartment Advertising Business

(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong and a coalition of four other attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today put an end to an illegal agreement between Zillow Group, Inc. (Zillow) and Redfin Corporation (Redfin) that prevented them from competing. Redfin and Zillow operate two of the top three largest websites for renters to search for apartments and for building managers to list their available units. In February 2025, Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to shut down its multifamily rental advertising business and transfer its clients to Zillow. In exchange, Redfin agreed to use its websites to exclusively display copies of Zillow's apartment rental listings and stay out of the multifamily rental advertising market for up to nine years.

"Rent is unaffordable for far too many Connecticut families right now. This unfair and anticompetitive agreement between two listing giants would have jacked up costs for property managers, and renters would have been the ones to pay the ultimate price. We sued, and today's settlement forces a return to fair competition and choice. We will continue to use every inch of our joint state and federal law enforcement authority to drive down housing costs," said Attorney General Tong.

In October 2025, Attorney General Tong and the coalition sued Zillow and Redfin for violating federal antitrust laws with this agreement, which harmed both building managers and renters with higher prices, fewer listings, and lower quality services. Under a settlement with the coalition of attorneys general and FTC, Redfin and Zillow must resume competing as they did before the illegal agreement. Redfin will rebuild its apartment advertising business and sell its own advertising products. In addition, Zillow and Redfin must eliminate the anticompetitive provisions of their agreement, including terms that prevent Redfin from competing independently against Zillow with its own apartment rental listings and advertisements.

Zillow and Redfin agreed to stop competing when they implemented an unlawful scheme through two agreements signed on February 6, 2025, a Partnership Agreement and a Content License Agreement. Under the Partnership Agreement, Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to stop competing in the market for advertising apartments in buildings with 25 units or more and transfer its multifamily advertising business to Zillow. Under the Content License Agreement, Redfin agreed to stay out of the multifamily advertising market for up to nine years and instead use its network to show only apartment rental listings that are also displayed on Zillow's sites. Attorney General Tong and the coalition argued that these agreements would stifle innovation and improvements to Zillow and Redfin's services, and result in higher prices, lower-quality rental advertising, and fewer choices for both renters seeking a home and management companies advertising their properties.

Under the settlement with the coalition of attorneys general and FTC, Zillow and Redfin must restore the competition that existed prior to their unlawful agreement. Redfin will invest in rebuilding its apartment advertising business and hire staff to acquire and maintain customers. Redfin will once again be able to list its own apartment units and will no longer have to exclusively show Zillow's listings. Zillow and Redfin are also barred from entering into future anticompetitive agreements. As a result, Redfin and Zillow will again compete for both advertisers and renters, and will be incentivized to attract users by innovating and improving their services. The companies must also pay the coalition $2 million.

Joining Attorney General Tong in securing this settlement are FTC and the attorneys general of Arizona, New York, Washington, and Virginia.

Today's settlement with Zillow and Redfin resolves the second antitrust action taken by Attorney General Tong to address unaffordable rental costs. In August 2024, Attorney General Tong joined the U.S. Department of Justice in filing an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage for its unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing and to monopolize the market for commercial revenue management software that landlords use to price apartments. In January 2025, that complaint was amended to add six of the nation's largest landlords, alleging that the landlords actively participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other's competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms. Connecticut has since reached multistate settlements with rental giants LivCor and Greystar for $7 million each. Other cases remain pending.

Assistant Attorneys General Franklin Kanin and Julián Quiñones, and Deputy Associate Attorney General/Chief of the Antitrust Section Nicole Demers assisted Attorney General Tong in this matter.
Twitter: @AGWilliamTong Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
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