Building an Open, Fair, and Competitive Rental Marketplace
Finding a home to rent should be simple, transparent and fair. Yet for too long, renters have faced a market defined by hidden costs, incomplete information, and limited visibility into available listings.
At Zillow, our mission has always been to help more people get home. Over the last 20 years, we’ve ‘turned on the lights’ to transform a closed, opaque real estate market into one where consumers get free and full access to all types of real estate inventory available. This transparency is also what we bring to the rental market — giving renters more information, more control and more choice than ever before. This approach to transparency also fosters a healthy competitive environment where business is earned based on the value provided to multifamily businesses and renters alike.
Empowering Renters Through Innovation
Zillow’s rental tools are designed to remove barriers and make renting easier and more affordable.
One application, many doors: Renters can apply to multiple properties using Zillow’s universal rental application — eliminating repetitive forms and multiple fees.
Transparent all-in costs: Renters deserve to understand the full cost of a home before they apply. Zillow enables the display of base rent plus additional mandatory fees, so renters can see the full monthly costs before applying.
Credit building: Millions of renters pay on time every month — but those payments rarely count toward building credit. Zillow Rent Reporting has already helped more than 141,000 renters report on-time payments to major credit bureaus at no cost, helping them strengthen their credit histories and open the door to future homeownership. Zillow recently expanded its rent reporting capabilities through a new partnership with Esusu, making it easier for millions of renters to build their credit history and improve financial readiness for their next move.
Expanded reach, fewer gaps: Zillow aggregates listings from many sources, reducing “hidden inventory” and giving renters a more comprehensive, searchable set of homes – crucial in an affordability-strained market.
Voucher-friendly listings: Zillow makes it easier for renters using housing vouchers to find homes by allowing property managers to mark listings as “voucher accepted.” This helps renters with Section 8 or other housing assistance programs quickly identify welcoming housing providers and reduces wasted application fees.
Fair Housing, consumer advocacy and accountability: Zillow leads with proactive policy engagement to advocate for renters. We’ve advocated across the country for source-of-income protections for voucher holders, fair housing protections, and contributed to housing programs like Housing Connector to help formerly unhoused people find a stable, safe place to live.
These innovations are good for renters, good for competition and core to Zillow’s goal of creating a more open, efficient and affordable housing marketplace.
Expanding Access and Promoting Competition
Through our listing syndication agreements, Zillow is expanding the reach and visibility of rental listings online, helping more renters see a more complete picture of available homes and making it easier for housing providers to fill vacancies more efficiently.We’re working to improve the rental experience on behalf of renters and housing providers by making more listings available across multiple sites.
Some other ways Zillow is expanding access and promoting competition:
Zillow reduces friction by bringing listings together across trusted platforms, so renters can see more homes wherever they prefer to search. Our syndication agreements, including with Realtor.com and Redfin, ensure more listings reach more renters, increasing visibility and choice.
Lower barriers, better leads for housing providers: With Zillow’s open network, property managers and housing providers can list once and reach millions of renters across multiple platforms. That saves time, reduces costs, and generates higher-quality leads. Smaller housing providers can compete on value and transparency, not marketing budgets.
Breaking down “walled garden” models: Zillow’s syndication model promotes openness and interoperability across the industry, countering closed, proprietary systems that restrict access and inflate prices. By keeping the rental market open, we drive competition and innovation, increase efficiency and deliver better tools for renters and housing providers alike.
A win for renters, housing providers, and the market
For renters: More access to listings means easier comparisons, greater transparency, and faster connections to available homes.
For housing providers: Broader reach and lower advertising costs make it easier to fill vacancies and keep rents stable.
For the market: Healthy competition drives continuous improvement and prevents any single company from dominating rental advertising.
Real Impact, Measured in Homes and Hope
Behind every data point is a family, a renter, a community finally getting a fair shot at home. Zillow’s work in rentals isn’t just about listings — it’s about opening doors and restoring dignity in the housing journey. These numbers all tell the same story: when the market works for everyone, more people get home.
More than 141,000 renters have started building credit through Zillow’s rent reporting, turning one of life’s biggest monthly bills into a step toward financial stability and potential homeownership.
Through our partnership with Housing Connector, more than 10,000 people who once faced homelessness have found safe, stable homes in seven markets across the country. Each key turned is a life changed.
Zillow was the amongst the first rental platform to bring total price transparency to listings, showing rent plus mandatory fees upfront so no renter is blindsided. Because honesty shouldn’t be a luxury.
We stand up for fairness, supporting source-of-income protections and fighting discriminatory rental practices that have long shut out too many people from opportunity.
We co-authored the Build the Middle Playbook with the Casita Coalition to help cities unlock middle housing options — duplexes, ADUs and small multifamily homes that make communities more affordable, walkable and inclusive. It’s a scalable solution to the housing affordability crisis.
And today, more than 50,000 housing providers use Zillow’s tools to list, screen and collect rent efficiently, making it easier to keep units filled and communities thriving.
