CoStar continues to hold its stance against Zillow’s new listing rules, with CEO Andy Florance making a recent move to support Compass in its battle against the rival portal.
Florance recently attended a Compass agent’s open house—a tradition Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and other company leadership do on Sundays—after the listing was banned from Zillow for not adhering to the new rules.
Reffkin said in a social media post that the listing—111 Canfield Hill Drive in Gaithersburg, Maryland, represented by agent Margie Halem—had been banned by Zillow for reportedly “being marketed outside of their platform.”
Above, a screen shot of Compass CEO Robert Reffkin’s social media post on Instagram.
Homes.com boosted the listing (expanded the marketing package) after it was banned on Zillow with “thousands and thousands of dollars for online promotion,” Reffkin explained in the post.
Homes.com also sent out marketing mailers delivered via FedEx to the surrounding area. Reffkin and many comments on the post said they have never seen mailers sent through FedEx before.
Above, additional photos Reffkin posted on his social media post on Facebook.
Reffkin noted that “in under 10 days, the listing generated more than 30 showings” due to Homes.com efforts.
“Homes.com is showing an unprecedented level of support to agents and home sellers in this time,” he continued. “Homes.com will continue to boost any listing banned by Zillow. Thank you for supporting agents and home sellers when Zillow has chosen not to.”
Florance also dove into the Zillow issue in CoStar’s Q2 2025 earnings call Tuesday, stating that the portal’s practices raise “serious antitrust concerns” and noting Compass’s lawsuit against Zillow for the practices.
Florance said that Homes.com is offering a free Boost to “any home for sale that Zillow bans,” which began with Halem’s listing in Maryland.
“The reason is simple—Homes.com benefits all parties involved: homebuyers, sellers and agents, and MLSs,” Florance continued. “We eliminate friction by providing a professional online presentation of every home and community without distracting ads or spam, and we’re connecting buyers honestly directly with a seller’s agent.”
This is not the first time Florance and CoStar’s stance against Zillow’s new listing rules have been made public. The CEO recently shared an in-depth post on LinkedIn stating his thoughts on Zillow’s “anti-agent practices” and double standards.
Florance wrote about Zillow’s practices of producing marketing materials that cut out agents, while simultaneously banning agents’ listings if they are marketed elsewhere. These no-agent listings are featured solely on Zillow and not on MLSs. He also called out the standard of requiring listings to be submitted to MLSs within 24 hours of public marketing, while not requiring the same for Zillow-submitted listings.
“Homes.com is now the only agent-friendly real estate portal committed to ‘Your Listing, Your Lead,’” wrote Florance. “We don’t take referral fees from your commissions, we don’t sell your leads, and we never compete with you for exclusives. For nearly forty years at CoStar Group, we have consistently honored these principles. Homes.com remains independent of Zillow’s agent-unfriendly control ecosystem.”
The numbers for Q2
Revenue for CoStar in Q2 2025 clocked in at $781 million, up 6% from $732 million seen last quarter and a 15% increase from the $678 million reported in Q2 2024. This is the company’s “57th consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth,” according to its release.
In addition, adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) came in at $85 million, up 28% from last quarter and up a whopping 108% from last year.
In terms of the aforementioned Homes.com Boost package, Florance mentioned in the release that the company has “sold more than 1,200 Boosts to agents and home sellers.”
Florance added that Homes.com’s “member agents are winning 62% more listings than comparable non-Member agents,” of which it added 6,300 in Q2 (a 56% quarter-over-quarter increase). He also touted that Homes.com remains a leader in the industry as the second largest portal with “111 million average monthly unique visitors.”
In addition, Florance also discussed a recent wind down of its acquired company Matterport’s photography business VHT. He explained that the business “has not realized its strategic potential,” and that it “incurred (revenue) losses exceeding 10 million.” CoStar has reportedly begun to lay off many employees of VHT as a result, with Florance stating that the company is looking to “reallocate resources to more productive areas.”
Matterport itself, however, remains profitable for CoStar as it rolled out its new Matterport Max package, and as 3D tours saw a 193% increase in views year-over-year.
Looking ahead, CoStar stated it expects Q3 2025 revenue in the range of $800 million to $805 million, which would be about a 16% year-over-year growth at the midpoint of the range.
The company also stated it is planning to roll out an AI powered voice search tool, “allowing consumers to find properties by speaking naturally or typing free form phrases, no more filtering required.”
