Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty images
The general prosecutors of five states continued Zillow And Redfin Wednesday, alleging that companies have planned to stop competition on the online housing rental market.
The trial follows a similar submitted Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission.
Officials from New York, Arizona, Connecticut, Washington and Virginia jointly filed the trial on Wednesday, invoking a February agreement between the two companies in which Zillow “paid $ 100 million in Redfin to close his apartment rental advertising and transfer his customers to Zillow” Letitia James, said in a press release.
“This agreement is nothing more than an end of competition which isolates Zillow of the competition head-to-head on the merits with Redfin for customers announcing multifamilial buildings,” said the trial.
The pursuit alleges that agreements violate antitrust federal laws and can affect tenants using business resources. He also claims that Redfin dismissed hundreds of employees, then worked with Zillow to re -hire some.
“Millions of New Yorkers are counting on online apartments lists to find an affordable and safe place to live,” James said in a statement. “Zillow’s attempt to close its competitors could increase costs for advertisers and leave the tenants with fewer options when looking for a new apartment.”
According to the office of James, Zillow, Redfin and Costar, which owns Apartments.com, are the three largest players on the market and represent 85% of all market income.
AGs are looking for an injunction to prohibit the two companies of the effect allegedly and proposes a possible restructuring of companies to maintain competition.
“Redfin does not agree with the allegations and is convinced that we will be justified by a court,” said a spokesperson for the company in a press release. “Our partnership with Zillow gave visitors to Redfin.com access to more rental advertisements and our advertising customers access to more tenants. By the end of 2024, it was clear that the existing number of Redfin advertising customers could not justify the cost of maintaining our rentals.
A spokesperson for Zillow said that the company maintains that its partnership with Redfin is “competence and pro-consumer competence by connecting real estate managers to more intentional tenants so that they can fill their vacant positions and that more tenants can return home”.
Actions of the parent company of Zillow and Redfin Rocket Initially exchanged lower following the announcement, after each loss ground on Tuesday after the FTC trial.
The FTC complaint cites an alleged similar program between the two companies. Zillow and Redfin both disagreed with these allegations and said they had been confident in their partnership.