Michael Sherman leads Zillow Rentals, overseeing the business and product teams responsible for Zillow’s rental marketplace. Since joining Zillow in 2012, Sherman has held leadership roles across several of the company’s businesses, focusing on building products and partnerships that create value for both consumers and industry partners.
Under Sherman’s leadership, Zillow Rentals has grown into the most visited and most trusted rental platform in the industry and a key driver of Zillow’s broader growth strategy. His teams are building a differentiated two-sided marketplace with the largest selection of rental listings for renters and unmatched reach for property managers, operators and landlords.
Here, Sherman shares his perspective on the rental market’s trajectory and how Zillow is helping renters move forward with more clarity and less guesswork.
RISMedia: For readers who may not be familiar, can you explain your role and what Zillow Rentals represents today?
Michael Sherman: I lead Zillow Rentals, which is Zillow’s rental marketplace business. Our focus is to give renters a clear, comprehensive view of what’s available and to help housing providers connect with high-intent demand.
Rentals is a meaningful growth driver for Zillow. In Q1 2026, we again posted year-over-year revenue growth above 40%. We have about 36 million monthly unique visitors and roughly 2.7 million average monthly active rental listings, the most of any marketplace in the category. That reach and inventory create real marketplace liquidity—it means renters see more of what’s actually available, and housing providers reach people who are serious about moving.
RISMedia: How would you describe the current rental experience?
MS: Even though renting is a somewhat routine experience for many people, the process can still feel surprisingly complicated.
If you look at how it works today, it’s pretty disjointed. Renters often search across multiple websites because no single place has every listing. There’s no MLS for rentals. Renters often have to reenter the same information more than once, email or text different properties, and wait on responses that may come at different times or not at all. The coordination alone—tours, follow-ups, comparing options—adds friction that shouldn’t exist in 2026.
Meanwhile, in most other parts of their lives, people are used to fast, intuitive digital experiences. Renting hasn’t fully caught up.
Our focus is reducing that friction. Tools like our universal rental application, Zillow AI mode, and easier tour coordination are already live and helping renters move forward with more clarity and less guesswork.
RISMedia: So if renters are searching across multiple sites, what’s the solution?
MS: Renters want to see everything available to them, and that’s completely reasonable. The goal should be to make that as easy as possible.
Right now, inventory is scattered. A renter might visit several sites and still wonder if they’re seeing the full picture. That uncertainty is the real friction—not the searching itself, but the feeling that you might be missing something.
Our focus is on building a comprehensive marketplace so that renters can feel confident they’re seeing what’s out there. When that happens, the search experience becomes less about coverage anxiety and more about actually finding the right home.
RISMedia: Some worry that having more inventory on one site could limit choice. How do you see it?
MS: I think it’s important to separate scale from control. Bringing listings together in one marketplace doesn’t reduce competition, but it does make listings more visible.
When properties sit next to each other, renters can compare them directly. That transparency pushes everyone to compete on the merits.
A comprehensive marketplace doesn’t reduce choice—it makes choice legible, more transparent and more clear.
RISMedia: How does technology, particularly AI, fit into solving these challenges?
MS: We’ve focused on practical AI that actually moves renters forward. A good example is Zillow AI mode, now in beta. It goes beyond surfacing listings—answering specific questions about a property, surfacing details renters might not think to ask about, and helping them feel confident they’re making the right call.
Beyond search, AI is working in the background in other ways, too. If a renter has a question at 9 p.m., they shouldn’t have to wait until the next business day to get an answer. If they want to schedule a tour, it shouldn’t take multiple emails to land on a time. Those delays may be small individually—but they’re exactly what makes renting feel harder than it should be.
AI works best when it quietly removes guesswork and wait time from the process. That’s good for renters and for housing providers who want to be responsive to serious leads.
RISMedia: What’s next for Zillow Rentals?
MS: On the experience side, we’re going to keep improving the parts of renting that people consistently struggle with. Searching should feel straightforward. Scheduling a tour shouldn’t take multiple emails. Applying shouldn’t mean reentering the same information over and over.
We’ll keep focusing on those everyday pain points and making them simpler.
When the process gets out of the way, renters can focus on what actually matters—finding the right home.
For more information, visit https://www.zillow.com/.
