Zillow

To solve America's housing shortage, policy wins must lead to local action. Zillow is proud to stand alongside Realtor.com, the National Association of Home Builders, Habitat for Humanity and other industry partners in Let America Build, an effort to bring attention to the nation's housing shortage and how to solve it. A glass house recently traveled through Boston to represent the millions of homes missing across the country. While the ROAD to Housing Act created a strong federal foundation, closing the housing gap requires local action in the zoning meetings and permitting offices where decisions about building are made. Over 300,000 empty lots are currently listed on Zillow, but local leaders must address zoning, permitting and financing barriers to help turn those properties into homes. Watch the video to see the campaign in action, and visit LetAmericaBuild.org to learn more.

From desktop to mobile to AI, Zillow has always sprinted toward what’s next. I talked with Thomas M. Bohn, CEO of Inman News, about how AI is changing the way people buy and sell homes, and how we’re building tools that help agents serve more customers. Here’s what we’re seeing: movers are going deeper in their research, which means agents are meeting clients who are more empowered and move-ready. That’s good news. Zillow is building the operating system for modern real estate, helping consumers go from discovery to action while also helping professionals spend less time sorting through the noise and more time with the people they serve. The market will keep changing. Our focus on making it easier to navigate doesn’t.  Check out our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gWgDp4_r

More than 2,000 agents, team leaders and industry partners gathered in Las Vegas for three days of learning, networking and building the future of real estate together at Unlock 2026. Here are three core takeaways from the event: ❶ Human guidance drives confidence. Buyers and sellers have more data and information, but tech can never replace an agent's local expertise, judgment and trust. ❷ Technology should protect your time. AI handles the busywork so agents can focus on high-touch moments that grow their business. ❸ Partnership drives the future. Zillow only succeeds when agents succeed. We are fully invested in equipping agents with tools to win listings and close deals. Thank you to everyone who attended, brought incredible energy and helped make this week unforgettable.

PSA to agents: waiting a year for lower rates saves a buyer roughly $26 a month. That’s a Netflix subscription. So for the buyer who says “I’ll wait until rates drop,” gift them one. Waiting is not a neutral decision. At the start of the year, with rates near 6%, the median-income household had an extra $30K in buying power. That advantage has eroded, and the market didn’t wait for anyone. For the home shopper who has already decided to buy and is only deciding when, here’s the tradeoff. At Zillow Unlock, our Chief Economist Mischa Fisher shared that we expect mortgage rates to dip and home values to grow, both only modestly. Put those together, and based on our baseline forecast, waiting a year saves roughly $26 a month on the typical home. I wouldn’t put my life on hold for the cost of a streaming subscription. This week I joined Katy Acker (Director of Marketing at Zillow), Justen Martin (Director of Sales at The Apollo Group), and Troy Rudman (top-rated loan officer with Zillow Home Loans) to talk through the market, the math, and the affordability conversation with hesitant buyers. #ZillowUnlock

Incredible week hanging with 2,000 of our closest agent and broker friends in Las Vegas for Zillow Unlock 2026. If you didn’t make it this year, the primary takeaway of my talk on the stage was that there is so much noise out there, and the most important attribute one can bring in 2027 is the capacity to cut through noise and focus on what actually matters: the individual human beings trying to make some of the biggest decisions of their lives in the middle of it all. (This is something with broader applicability to my quant/analyst/economist friends, not just people operating in the agent/broker space).  I also chatted about what’s ahead. In terms of our Zillow forecast, we’ll have an updated one out next week; as it currently stands, the macro is still quite restrictive for housing (our rate path as of today doesn’t have mortgages below the mid-6s over the next 15 or so months). I do think the plurality of ‘unknowns’ out there that could meaningfully shift the trajectory are biased towards ‘lower’ rates, not higher ones, once inflation expectations come down.

First Agent Unlock: officially in the books. 🙌🏾 I spent this week in Las Vegas with thousands of agents, and I came away inspired by how much they care about their clients and how ready they are for what’s next. As someone new to this industry, there’s no better way to learn than being in the room with the people who make it run. Thank you to the agents who shared their stories, and to the Zillow team behind an incredible event. See you next year! #ZillowUnlock

That’s a wrap on Unlock 2026! What an incredible few days connecting with growth-minded real estate leaders, sharing game-changing insights and building the future of the industry together. To everyone who joined us in Las Vegas, thank you for bringing the energy!