In a fourth quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call February 11, Zillow Group CEO Jeremy Wacksman and CFO Jeremy Hofmann touted the company’s strong performance, highlighting a 17% year-over-year revenue increase to $554 million in Q4 and a 15% increase to $2.2 billion for the full year. On the downside was a net loss of $112 million in 2024 due to sales and marketing expenses.
Also announced was a new partnership with Redfin, wherein Zillow will pay a $100 million upfront fee to have its rental listings on Redfin sites. Redfin simultaneously cut 450 jobs as it “restructures” its own rental business, according to Bloomberg Law.
Wacksman said the company met its 2024 goals and anticipates continued momentum in 2025, aiming for a 6% share of customer transactions. Key achievements include a 15% increase in for-sale revenue, 86% growth in mortgage revenue and a 25% rise in rentals revenue. Zillow’s enhanced market strategy and integration of services like Zillow Home Loans and Zillow Showcase are driving growth, he added. The company projects a clear path to $5 billion in revenue in a normalized housing market this year, with significant opportunities in both for-sale and rentals categories.
“2024 was a remarkable year for Zillow,” said Wacksman. “We achieved our stated goals for the year, including double-digit revenue growth, and we expect to keep up our momentum in 2025. The results we reported today demonstrate how well we are executing and seizing our opportunity to transform and digitize residential real estate.
“With the leading brand in our category and a solid foundation for continued growth, we’re excited to serve more buyers, sellers, renters and real estate professionals this year. We aim to reach 5% to 10% of all U.S. listings in the intermediate term, which we believe represents a revenue opportunity of $150 to $300 million.”
Wacksman said Zillow expects multifamily properties to be the main driver of growth, with 50,000 multifamily properties on its platform, up from 37,000 at the end of 2023.
“And there is room to expand with an estimated 140,000 total multifamily properties across the country,” he added. “To that end, today we announced a partnership with Redfin to provide all of the multifamily listings on their sites, further expanding the reach of multifamily properties that advertise with us, and giving renters on Zillow access to more apartment listings over time.”
Regarding the Redfin deal, Hofmann said that “we expect the partnership will roll out throughout the course of 2025 and have a larger financial impact in 2026 and beyond. As we execute on our strategy, we will maintain our cost structure framework, including continuing to control our fixed cost base to drive leverage.”
Earnings report highlights include:
- Zillow Group’s fourth-quarter results exceeded the company’s outlook for revenue.
- Q4 revenue was up 17% year-over-year to $554 million, above the midpoint of the company’s outlook range by $21 million. Q4 revenue outperformed the residential real estate industry’s year-over-year total transaction value growth of 13% according to the National Association of REALTORS®, and 15% according to industry data tracked and estimated by Zillow. Full-year 2024 revenue of $2.2 billion was up 15% year-over-year.
- For-sale revenue was up 15% year-over-year to $428 million in Q4.
- Residential revenue was up 11% year-over-year in Q4 to $387 million, benefiting primarily from continued conversion improvements and Zillow Showcase expansion.
- Mortgages revenue increased 86% year-over-year to $41 million in Q4, due primarily to a 90% increase in purchase loan origination volume to $923 million.
- Rentals revenue increased 25% year-over-year to $116 million in Q4, primarily driven by multifamily revenue growing 41% year-over-year.
- Cash and investments at the end of Q4 were $1.9 billion, down from $2.2 billion at the end of Q3, primarily due to the settlement of the company’s 2026 convertible debt in December.
- Traffic to Zillow Group’s mobile apps and sites in Q4 was up 3% year-over-year to 204 million average monthly unique users. Visits during Q4 were up 3% year-over-year to 2.1 billion.
