Redfin has resolved a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its rental-listing agreement with Zillow, allowing it to restart its own rental advertising business whilst maintaining the partnership through 2030. The settlement removes previous competitive restrictions, enabling Redfin to rebuild rental advertising operations alongside receiving Zillow listings and payments. The development adds revenue optionality for Rocket Companies, which owns Redfin. However, near-term risks around housing affordability and mortgage volumes remain central to the investment case. Rocket recently appointed Sarah Watterson as an independent director, bringing real estate and mortgage servicing experience. Analysts project revenue of $13.9 billion and earnings of $2.9 billion by 2029, with fair value estimates ranging from $14.18 to $19.02 per share. The rental flexibility could challenge more pessimistic forecasts that assume slower 7.5% annual revenue growth.

The US Federal Trade Commission has settled with Zillow and Redfin over claims their deal illegally suppressed competition in online rental advertising. The FTC filed a proposed order requiring Redfin to restart its standalone rental listings business within six months or face financial penalties. The FTC alleged that in exchange for $100 million from Zillow, Redfin agreed to shut down its listings, exclusively repost Zillow's apartments, and stay out of the market for up to nine years. The commission argued this violated federal antitrust laws. Under the settlement, Redfin must hire sufficient staff and can advertise non-Zillow listings whilst continuing to syndicate Zillow's properties. Both companies maintained their partnership was pro-competitive. The agreement also resolves litigation from attorneys general in Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Washington.

Housing and childcare eat 52% of family income, Redfin finds. New Redfin research finds the typical family spends 52% of income on housing and childcare combined, ranging from under 40% in Little Rock to nearly 97% in Los Angeles. Redfin is also adding childcare data to its home listings. The typical working American family now spends 52% of its annual income on housing and childcare combined, according to new research from Redfin released Monday in partnership with childcare marketplace Winnie. The same day, Redfin said it is rolling out a new feature that shows nearby daycare and preschool options directly on its home listings. The research, which covers the 100 largest U.S. metro areas, combined median monthly childcare costs for one child in full-time daycare with the cost of owning a median-priced home - mortgage payments at prevailing 30-year rates, property taxes, insurance and private mortgage insurance on a 15% down payment - and compared the total to U.S. Census Bureau median household income data. Housing figures were averaged from January through June 2026. A wide gap between cheapest and most expensive metros. Affordability varies enormously by metro. Little Rock, Ark., was the most affordable large metro in the analysis, where housing and childcare combined consume 39.8% of the typical household's income - about $29,151 a year against median income of $73,170. Oklahoma City (40.8%), Des Moines, Iowa (41.8%), Warren, Mich. (42.2%) and St. Louis (42.2%) rounded out the five most affordable metros. At the other extreme, families in Los Angeles spend a median 96.8% of their income on housing and childcare - $94,613 a year against median income of just $97,775, leaving almost nothing left over. New York (95%), San Francisco (94.2%), Anaheim, Calif. (93.5%) and San Jose, Calif. (83.1%) were the next-least affordable. "High-income metros like San Francisco and San Jose offer bigger paychecks, but those gains are often offset by extraordinarily expensive homes," said Yingqi Xu, senior economist at Redfin. Sara Mauskopf, co-founder and CEO of Winnie, said "families considering a move should weigh both of those big costs - as well as job opportunities - when deciding where to put down roots." Redfin's methodology assumed a 15% down payment and prevailing 30-year mortgage rates when estimating homeownership costs, then added property taxes, homeowners insurance and private mortgage insurance on top of the mortgage payment itself. Childcare costs reflect the median price of full-time daycare for one child in each metro, based on Winnie's marketplace data, rather than costs for multiple children or part-time care, which would push the combined burden even higher for many families. Redfin adds childcare data to every for-sale listing. Alongside the research, Redfin said it has integrated childcare information directly into its home listings through the same Winnie partnership. Home shoppers browsing listings on Redfin's website can now see nearby daycare and preschool options, including distance from the property, parent reviews, financial aid eligibility and staff certifications. Redfin described Winnie as the largest marketplace for childcare and early education in the U.S. The feature is live on desktop and mobile web now, with integration into Redfin's mobile app planned later in 2026. The rollout follows Redfin's recent finding that the income needed to afford a typical U.S. home is holding near a record $110,000, underscoring how squeezed many house-hunting families already are on housing costs alone before childcare is factored in. What it means. The 52% national figure and the metro rankings are Redfin's own calculations from its data partnership with Winnie, not an independently audited government statistic, and should be read as Redfin's analysis of combined cost burden rather than an official affordability measure. The gap between Little Rock and Los Angeles - roughly 57 percentage points of income - is nonetheless a striking illustration of how much geography shapes a young family's real cost of living. By folding childcare listings into its search platform, Redfin is betting that combining housing and childcare data will influence where families choose to buy, not just how much they can afford to spend on a mortgage. Whether the feature meaningfully shifts search behavior, as opposed to simply adding a helpful data layer, will depend on how much weight buyers place on childcare access relative to schools, commute times and other factors that already dominate home searches.