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A slow real estate market couldn’t keep America’s biggest portal down, with new data showing that in Q1, Zillow managed to grow revenue and — for the first time in years — turn a profit.
In total, Zillow brought in $598 million in revenue between January and March, earnings data released Wednesday reveals. That number represents a 13 percent jump compared to the same time in 2024. On top of that, Zillow managed to make $8 million in profit — a significant improvement over the $23 million it lost during last year’s first quarter.
Indeed, a review of past Zillow earnings reports shows that the last time Zillow turned a profit, rather than reporting a net loss, was in 2022.
Jeremy Wacksman
In a conversation with Inman Wednesday, CEO Jeremy Wacksman said Zillow managed to thrive in Q1 “despite a pretty challenged” and “depressed housing market.”
“We’re not expecting to see a lot of improvement in the macro for the year,” Wacksman added.
Zillow’s report also includes a number of other bright spots for the company. Among other things, it shows that revenue from rentals rose 33 percent year over year to $129 million — an all time high for that segment. Wacksman called rentals “a bright spot” while speaking with Inman.
“We now have the most listings, 2 million active rental listings on Zillow’s rental network,” Wacksman continued. “And that’s what drives the audience. We actually have the largest rental audience in the country, 37 million unique visitors come to Zillow Rentals. It’s the number one brand preference because it has the most inventory. No one has them all, but we’re trying to get to as many as possible.”
During a call with analysts Wednesday afternoon, Wacksman noted that there has never historically been a place where renters can see all rental listings, but that Zillow is “rapidly becoming that one-stop marketplace.”
“The opportunity in rentals is significant,” he also said during the call, adding that the company expects multifamily to be the main driver of revenue in the future.
According to Wacksman, Zillow had 40,000 multifamily buildings in its rental network as of a year ago, but that number increased to about 55,000 by the end of March. Since then, the network as expanded further to 60,000 multifamily buildings, Wacksman added, with inventory driving the rental segment’s revenue growth and directing consumers to Zillow’s funnel before they might ever buy a home.
Zillow Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Hoffman added during the call that Zillow expects its rental business to grow 40 percent over the course of 2025.
Heading into Wednesday’s earnings report, shares in Zillow were trading for around $67. That was up for the day and basically flat for the week. A year ago, Zillow shares were trading in the low $40 range.
Zillow shares fluctuated, but trended down, in after hours trading following the publication of the company’s earnings report.
Credit: Google
The portal had a market cap of about $16.3 billion as of Wednesday afternoon.
Aside from turning a profit and growing revenue generally, Zillow’s earnings report reveals that revenue from Zillow’s residential segment hit $417 million in Q1, up 6 percent year over year. The company’s residential segment includes the Premier Agent program through which agents pay the company for leads.
Additionally, revenue from Zillow’s mortgage business grew 31 percent to $41 million in the first quarter.
During Wednesday’s analyst call, Wacksman was asked about Rocket’s recent announcement that it is acquiring Redfin and Mr. Cooper. Wacksman replied that “there’s going to be multiple winners here,” but that the deals prove Zillow’s thesis.
“Rocket announcing their acquisition of Redfin is about a recognition that the future of real estate is this integrated transaction,” he said. “The great news for us is that’s been our strategy for a while.”
Zillow’s latest earnings come against the backdrop of a raging debate in the real estate industry over private listings, or homes that are marketed privately between agents but not added to the local multiple listing service. Zillow has come out against private listings and, last month, banned such properties from its platform. The move prompted intense debate and thrust the portal into the center of the issue.
On Wednesday’s analyst call, Wacksman said that most of the real estate industry already agrees with Zillow’s position on listings, and that the response from brokerages, MLSs and other organizations has been positive. While speaking with Inman, he further defended the move, saying it’s “about protecting consumer transparency.”
“What makes this market so beneficial for buyers and sellers,” Wacksman said, “and beneficial for agents as well, is buyers have access to all the listings, sellers understand the risks of not marketing publicly, and most importantly, agents can do their job effectively.”
Update: This story was updated after publication with additional details from Zillow’s earnings report, and with remarks from the company’s analyst call.
