Zillow is pushing deeper into AI-assisted home search, launching a new Google Gemini integration that connects renters with apartment listings and available tour times.
The company said Thursday that Zillow Rentals is now live as a connected app inside Gemini, allowing renters to search for apartments with available tours on Zillow from inside Google’s AI assistant. Renters can ask Gemini for listings that match their search, view available tour times and then click through to Zillow to confirm the booking.
The move makes Zillow the only real estate platform in Gemini’s connected apps ecosystem, the company said.
The launch is focused on rentals and tour scheduling, rather than for-sale listings or AI search tools built directly into Zillow’s own website or app. Zillow said the Gemini integration is designed to shorten the path from rental search to an actual tour, with Gemini handling the conversation and Zillow powering the listing availability, scheduling infrastructure and booking experience.
“Renters don’t all start their search the same way,” Michael Sherman, senior vice president of Zillow Rentals, said in the announcement. “What matters is that Zillow is there when they are ready to take a real next step — that includes inside one of the largest AI assistants in the world.”
The Gemini launch builds on other AI work from Zillow, including last year’s ChatGPT rollout and the launch of “AI Mode” on Zillow.com and the Zillow app earlier this year.
Zillow said renters using Gemini can connect their Google and Zillow accounts once, with confirmed tours appearing in their Zillow itinerary. Instant tour-enabled listings will show a “Book a Tour” option, while other properties will offer a “Request a Tour” option.
The company said the experience is rolling out to Gemini and Gemini Spark users over the coming weeks.
Rival home-search sites have also been leaning heavily into AI in recent months. Realtor.com launched a ChatGPT integration in March and followed in June with RealAssist, an AI assistant built to streamline listing search and answer buyer questions. CoStar’s Homes.com has also been part of the broader portal push to use AI to guide consumers through the home-search process.
However, Zillow’s latest Gemini functionality is focused on rentals versus for-sale homes and lives inside Google’s AI assistant rather than only inside Zillow’s own website or app. Renters can search for apartments and tour times in Gemini, but Zillow still handles the booking.
It also comes less than a month after Zillow pushed back on the idea that Google’s expanded home-listing ads posed an immediate threat to its core business. In that case, Zillow described Google’s listing ad model as closer to lead generation than Zillow’s broader transaction strategy.
Zillow told Inman that it views the Gemini rental tool as separate from Google’s expanded home-listing ads. The rental tool is focused on connecting renters to Zillow’s rental inventory and tour-booking infrastructure inside one of the AI assistants consumers may already be using.
