Editor’s note: In a year of epic mergers — and industry division — a handful of people and themes have emerged as defining forces. Real Estate News has selected the top newsmakers of 2025, based on their industry impact and influence. They are The Ten.
Business was booming at Zillow in 2025: Revenue consistently beat expectations, and the company’s mortgage and rentals businesses reported huge gains — all the makings of a banner year.
But if you set aside the strong financials, Zillow’s 2025 may be better characterized as a series of no good, very bad days. Not only was the search giant besieged with litigation, it faced new competitive threats and criticism over policy changes.
Will Zillow come through it unscathed?
Competition from unexpected places
The home search leader has expanded its offerings in recent years, enabling buyers to complete more aspects of their transaction within the Zillow-verse — a strategy that contributed to the rapid growth of its mortgage business.
Rocket moves in: While other companies have touted their full-service consumer experience, none has been a significant rival — until this year. In March, Rocket Companies — the nation’s largest lender — announced its acquisition of Redfin in pursuit of “one modern, fully connected, beautiful, end-to-end experience.”
Industry insider Rob Hahn was quick to note the magnitude of the deal, suggesting that a combined Rocket/Redfin could “be a real competitor to Zillow’s total dominance of real estate.”
Google’s ‘experiment’: Perhaps a more surprising development occurred in December when Google tested the real estate waters, launching a “controlled experiment” displaying home listings, basic details and a “Request a tour” button at the top of its search results. “Google has officially entered the real estate portal wars,” eXp CMO Wendy Forsythe declared on LinkedIn.
For now, industry watchers aren’t predicting a major disruption in the home search space, but one Goldman Sachs analyst said the move could represent “a long-term risk for real estate portals like Zillow.”
Pushback on listing standards
In April, Zillow announced new standards barring listings that were publicly marketed but not widely available via the MLS and IDX feeds. The move received endorsements from several brokerages that praised the new policy as pro-consumer, but other industry leaders criticized the decision.
CoStar CEO Andy Florance, whose Homes.com search site aims to rival Zillow, quickly condemned the move as a money grab and later questioned the legality of the policy, calling Zillow and its allies “an anticompetitive cartel.”
Hoby Hanna, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate — which pulled its listings from IDX in 2023 to limit competitor access — said Zillow was “overstepping” and “restricting trade.”
The most virulent response, however, came from Compass CEO Robert Reffkin. The brokerage’s 3-phased marketing strategy encourages sellers to first list their home as a Compass Private Exclusive…
Read More: The Ten: Zillow under siege
