“This
month,
Zillow
began
questionably
leveraging
its
market
power
by
forcing
agents
to
market
listings
on
its
platform
within
24
hours
of
the
listing
being
marketed
or
risk
the
listing
being
permanently
banned.
This
tactic,
we
believe,
raises
serious
antitrust
concerns.
Indeed,
Compass
has
already
filed
a
lawsuit
against
Zillow
for
such
practices,”
said
Florance,
who
has
been

a
vocal
critic
of
the
policy
since
it
was
first
announced.

Boosting
listings
that
Zillow
bans

In
addition
to
being
an
opponent
of
the
policy,
in
early
May,
CoStar
announced
that
it
would
allow
any
listing
banned
by
Zillow
to
be
‘Boosted’
on


Homes.com

for
free.
CoStar
announced
the
Boost
feature
during
its

Q1
2025
earnings
call.
So
far,
CoStar
said
it
has
sold
over
1,200
Boosts
to
agents
and
home
sellers. 

“Boosted
listings
reach
over
14,000
homebuyers
with
an
average
of
32
views
per
buyer
making
boosted
listings
25%
more
likely
to
go
under
contract
within
10
days.
I
can’t
pass
that
up.
Nearly
25%
of
Boost
users
have
converted
to
full
Homes.com
memberships.
So
the
Boost
program
is
a
great
lead
pipeline
for
our
sales
force,”
Florance
said. 

The
first
property
Homes.com
boosted
free
of
charge
due
to
it
being
banned
from
Zillow
was
in
Montgomery
County,
Maryland.
Florance
highlighted
his
visit
to
this
property
on

his
social
media
this
past
weekend.

“With
a
Homes.com
boost,
we’ve
been
able
to
serve
it
up
to
buyers
155,000
times
in
the
first
12
days,
it
was
on
the
market.
205
buyers
have
favored
listing
on
Homes.com
and
43
have
shared
it
with
a
friend
or
family
member,”
Florance
added
during
the
call.

According
to
Florance,
the
listing
complied
with
the
rules
of
both
the


National
Association
of
Realtors
(NAR)
and
its
local
MLS,


Bright
MLS.

“Zillow
falsely
labeled
the
property
as
off-market
on
their
website,
misleading
buyers,”
Florance
said. 

Zillow
may
become
‘an
existential
threat’
to
the
MLSs

Florance
and
CoStar
are
claiming
that
due
to
the
recent
changes
to
NAR’s

optional
no-commingling
rule
and

Clear
Cooperation
Policy,
that
Zillow
is
concerned
that
listing
agents
may
opt
to
use
sites
like
Homes.com,
which
do
not
sell
leads
to
buyers’
agents. 

“By
demanding
immediate
listings
and
simultaneously
offering
Zillow
exclusive
listing,
Zillow
risks
weakening
the
relative
value
of
the
MLSs.
A
major
brokerage
has
informed
us
that
Zillow
now
seeks
direct
feeds
from
brokers,
bypassing
MLSs,
suggesting
MLSs
may
soon
recognize
Zillow
as
an
existential
threat,”
Florance
said. 

During
the
call,
Florance
also
addressed
the
mailers
sent
directly
to
home
sellers
advertising
Homes.com’s
Boost
product,
calling
the
mailers
a
“member
agent
appreciation
campaign,”
and
adding
that
the
campaign
was
aimed
at
nearly
100,000
home
sellers. 

Net
new
bookings
up
for
Homes.com

The
early
success
of
the
Boost
program
was
not

the
only
good
news
for
CoStar’s
Homes.com
during
the
quarter.
Homes.com
reported
its
best
net
new
bookings
on
record
in
Q2
2025,
adding
6,300
members,
up
56%
from
the
prior
quarter.
This
improvement
is
in
part
due
to
the
growth
of
the
dedicated
Homes.com
sales
team,
which
CoStar
says
it
plans
to
triple
from
230
representatives
at
the
end
of
2024
to
roughly
750
at
the
end
of
2025.
Overall,
CoStar
said
it
plans
to
grow
its
core
sales
team
by
20%
in
2025.

Across
the
CoStar
ecosystem,
net
new
bookings
for
the
quarter
were
up
65%
over
the
prior
quarter
to
$93
million.
The
company
said
this
was
in
large
part
due
to

Apartments.com’s
highest
net
new
bookings
quarter
in
two
years. 

Despite
this
improvement,
CoStar
saw
its
net
income
drop
to
$6.2
million,
from
$19.2
million
a
year
earlier.
However,
CoStar’s
Q2
2025
performance
was
better
than
the
prior
quarter,
in
which
it
recorded
a
$15
million
net
loss. 

Although
income
was
down,
revenue
for
the
company
was
again
up,
rising
15%
year-over-year
to
$781
million,
marking
the
57th
consecutive
quarter
of
double-digit
revenue
growth.
In
North
America,
CoStar’s
residential
segment
generated
$17.1
million
in
revenue
during
Q2
2025,
up
from
the
$16.2
million
in
revenue
it
recorded
during
the
same
quarter
a
year
prior.

CoStar
also
highlighted
the
user
traffic
to
the
sites
in
its
Homes.com
network,
which
reported
an
average
of
111
million
monthly
unique
visitors
in
the
quarter,
according
to
data
from

Google
Analytics.
The
Homes.com
network
includes
the

Apartments.com
network
and
the
Land
Network,
which
generated
48
million
monthly
unique
users
and
12
million
views,
respectively,
during
Q2
2025.