There’s no harm in a little Zillow-surfing, but let’s face it: most Americans won’t be buying a home anytime soon. With mortgage rates sitting shy of 7% and the median sales price of homes at $419.2K in the latest quarter, homeownership has become a club exclusive to the wealthy and generationally lucky. Ironically, that’s a problem for the housing marketplace, which is looking to widen its appeal beyond a place where people go to aimlessly browse — and into a place where they go to find a place to rent.

• In a bid to become a more robust marketplace for renters, Zillow signed a deal with Redfin to provide “multifamily rental listings” from across its various platforms.
• Building on similar deals, Zillow is positioning itself to capture a market of “renter movers,” which moves more frequently than homeowners and is more price-sensitive.

Making it happen: For consumers, the deal could make Zillow a more useful place to shop for a new apartment, condo, or rental home — and diversify the business as it looks beyond its housing roots. In 2024, Zillow’s revenues rose 15% year-over-year to $2.2B — mostly driven by a narrower housing market. But the rentals business, about a quarter of its business in the latest quarter, grew 25% YoY. That rising opportunity could pan more partnerships or a potential merger between heavyweights looking to provide a greater end-to-end experience in the housing market. ZillowZ

is up 39% over the past year; RedfinRDFN

is up 17%.