Court merges lawsuits over Zillow, Redfin’s multifamily listing deal

The two antitrust lawsuits involving Zillow and Redfin’s $100 million multifamily rental syndication deal have been consolidated. 

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits include the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general in Virginia, Arizona, New York, Connecticut and Washington. The five states’ attorneys general filed their unopposed motion to combine their lawsuit with the suit filed by the FTC on Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga granted the motion on Wednesday. 

The lawsuits, which were filed within one day of each other roughly two months ago, were both filed in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., and are being overseen by Judge Trenga.

In addition, the suits included identical claims that the syndication deal executed by Zillow and Redfin was tantamount to Zillow simply paying Redfin $100 million in exchange for it no longer competing in the multifamily rental listing space. 

“This agreement is nothing more than an end run around competition that insulates Zillow from head-to-head competition on the merits with Redfin for customers advertising multifamily buildings,” the attorneys general wrote in their filing. 

Both Zillow and Redfin maintain that the deal is pro-competitive, and that it benefits both renters and property managers and has expanded renters’ access to multifamily listings across multiple platforms.