Zillow Group, Inc. (Zillow) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, dedicated partners and agents, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences. Hundreds of millions of people visit the company’s mobile applications and websites every month to begin their journey.
At the...
Zillow Group, Inc. (Zillow) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, dedicated partners and agents, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences. Hundreds of millions of people visit the company’s mobile applications and websites every month to begin their journey.
At the core of Zillow is the company’s living database of approximately 160 million U.S. homes and its differentiated content, most notably the Zestimate, its patented proprietary automated valuation model through which it provides home value estimates. With the launch of the Zestimate feature in 2006, the company introduced important transparency to residential real estate in order to empower consumers to make better decisions. During 2023, the company’s Zestimate feature had a median error rate of 2.3% for homes listed for sale and 7.4% for off-market homes. The company’s data and content has helped the Zillow brand become synonymous with residential real estate with Zillow being searched more than the term real estate in the United States.
In 2023, the company closed the acquisition of Follow Up Boss, a customer relationship management system that gives real estate professionals a central hub to organize and engage customers, close deals, and build their teams.
Customer Offerings
The company strives to provide a seamless, integrated transaction experience for movers through Zillow, its network of trusted partners, and affiliated brands, and through a comprehensive suite of marketing software and technology solutions for the real estate industry, including Spruce, Mortech, New Home Feed, ShowingTime+ and Follow Up Boss.
The company’s services are primarily designed for the following:
For Buyers, Sellers and Partners – When a buyer is ready to begin their home buying journey, the company offers a variety of options depending on where they choose to start. After searching for a home on its mobile applications and websites, customers can choose to meet with a local real estate professional by connecting with a Premier Agent partner, scheduling an in-person home tour powered by ShowingTime+, or obtaining financing through Zillow Home Loans. For customers who are focused on buying new construction homes, the company connects them with its home builder partners. Once buyers find their home, they can choose to work with its Premier Agent partners and affiliated integrated services, including financing through Zillow Home Loans, to facilitate a seamless transaction experience. For sellers, the company focuses on providing multiple offerings for customers to find ways to sell their homes. For instance, the company has an exclusive multi-year partnership with Opendoor to provide its customers with the option to get a cash offer on their home, and it has expanded this offering to 45 markets across the country. Additionally, the company launched the Listing Showcase product under ShowingTime+, which allows sellers and listing agents to differentiate themselves on Zillow through higher-quality listings via an immersive premium experience featuring rich media, including scrolling hero images, room-by-room photo organization and interactive floor plans. For partners, the company is actively integrating Follow Up Boss, a customer relationship management system for real estate professionals, into its suite of product offerings. This tech-enabled solution gives real estate professionals a central hub to organize and engage customers, close deals and build out their teams.
For Renters – During 2023, the company estimates that there were almost three times more households moving to a new rental than purchasing a home in the United States2. The company’s rentals marketplace assists its partners with listings, advertising, leasing and property management services through Zillow Rental Manager in the U.S. market of nearly 48 million rental units. The company connects prospective renters with its property management and landlord partners through its rental websites which provide landlords access to the most visited online rental network4. The company also provides renters with the ability to easily submit applications, sign leases and make rental payments through its platform. The company is continuing to make enhancements to its rental products and services to make moving a transparent and seamless process. Such enhancements include the addition of room for rent listings, the ability to filter on income restricted listings, a universal application feature which allows potential renters to pay once to access multiple listings and the reporting of timely rental payments to a major credit bureau, among others.
For Borrowers – The company provides its customers with multiple ways to pursue mortgage financing for their transaction. The company provides customers with the option to finance directly with Zillow Home Loans or to connect with its mortgage partners through its mortgage marketplace for both purchase and refinance opportunities. Zillow Home Loans, which is available in 49 states and the District of Columbia, originates mortgage loans and then sells substantially all of the loans on the secondary market.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2023, the company had 138 patents of varying lengths issued and 203 patent applications pending in the U.S. and internationally. These patents cover a variety of proprietary techniques relevant to its products and services, including determining a current value for real estate property and the collection, storage and display of home attribute values and creating interactive floor plans.
To support its brand, the company has registered, or applied for the registration of, trademarks, service marks and copyrights in the U.S. and several other jurisdictions, including Zillow, Zestimate, and the Z in a house logo. The company is also the registered holder of a variety of domestic and international domain names.
Seasonality
Portions of the company’s business have historically been affected by seasonal fluctuations in the residential real estate market, advertising spend and other factors. In more recent years, the company’s seasonality in revenue has been masked by macroeconomic factors. These factors include customers’ responses to macroeconomic housing market factors, such as interest rate and home price increases and volatility and tight housing inventory levels, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research and Development
For the year ended December 31, 2023, the company’s expenses attributable to research and development for its business totaled $545 million.
History
Zillow Group, Inc. was founded in 2004. The company was incorporated as a Washington corporation in 2004.