Senior Democrats Question "Anticompetitive Acquisition Spree" as Redfin Shareholders Approve Rocket Takeover

Redfin shareholders have approved Rocket's takeover bid this week, but a group of US senators has questioned the deal, branding it "anticompetitive" in a letter.

Redfin shareholders on Wednesday voted to approve the company's $1.75 billion acquisition by Rocket Companies, a deal expected to close this summer and perhaps as early as June.

The decision follows the expiration of an antitrust review window that did not raise objections from federal regulators, despite mounting concerns in Washington over market concentration and consumer impact.

Five U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have written a lengthy letter to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to raise concerns that the merger should have been more closely scrutinised when the merger was first announced in March 2025.

"Rocket is attempting to dominate the entire homebuying process," stated the letter, while the authors also suggested that Rocket may use Redfin's homebuyer data to "manipulate mortgage rates and pricing".

Rocket, which is already the second-largest mortgage originator in the U.S., is also pursuing a $9.4 billion acquisition of Mr. Cooper, the nation’s largest loan servicer.

The mergers would create a powerhouse real estate vertical combining home search, brokerage, mortgage and financial services. Rocket says it is targeting 8% market share of the home purchase loan market and 20% of the mortgage refinancing market post-merger.

The senior Democrats believe the combined mergers will create a monopolistic entity with the potential to price-gouge consumers.

They wrote:

We write to express our concerns over the homeownership company Rocket Companies’ (Rocket’s) recent acquisition spree and your agencies’ failure to challenge those acquisitions. This spring, Rocket announced plans to acquire the online real estate brokerage platform Redfin Corporation (Redfin) for $1.75 billion and the mortgage company Mr. Cooper for $9.4 billion. Rocket already offers real estate brokerage and mortgage services through its companies Rocket Homes and Rocket Mortgage, and Rocket will use these mergers to significantly scale these businesses.

At a time when families already face a housing affordability crisis, these deals would combine the second-largest mortgage originator, the largest mortgage servicer, and the third-most-visited real estate brokerage website in the United States, into a massive, vertically integrated conglomerate that may reduce choice and raise prices for American families in the housing market.

We... urge you to closely scrutinize Rocket’s acquisition spree as a whole for anticompetitive harms to small businesses and consumers in the housing market.

Rocket’s acquisitions of Redfin and Mr. Cooper will lead to significant consolidation in the homebuying industry, discouraging competitors and steering millions of homebuyers into the Rocket ecosystem.

If the proposed Rocket-Redfin merger succeeds, Rocket will be in position to steer Redfin users to Rocket’s real estate agents, directing business away from independent agents and brokerages. Rocket has suggested it will use Redfin’s 19 million data points on agent behavior to “match homebuyers with the best real estate agents … across the combined companies,” thereby preventing independent agents from receiving that business.

Meanwhile, Rocket executives have claimed that transaction costs on median-priced homes will drop 50% (down from $40,000 to $20,000) thanks to a centralised offering. Rocket CFO Brian Brown said Rocket expects to cut "duplicative operations and other costs" by $200 million and find an additional $60 million in extra revenues post-merger.

Varun Krishna, CEO at Rocket, said:

“For far too long, the homeownership process has been outdated and disconnected. Home search, brokerage, mortgage, title, closing, servicing, all exist in separate ecosystems, forcing consumers to piece together a complex and frustrating journey.

"We reject that status quo. There’s a better way, and we’re going to make it happen.

"By uniting search, buying, selling, mortgage, title, and servicing all under Rocket, we’re creating a modern, intuitive experience that puts the consumer first."

Redfin shareholders themselves have filed no fewer than four lawsuits challenging the deal, alleging that the company withheld key financial disclosures, including one claim that Rocket and Goldman Sachs, which advised Redfin on the deal, were embroiled in an undisclosed lending relationship. Redfin dismissed the lawsuits, branding them "without merit".

According to reporting by AIM Group, the rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was 6.89% last week.

Redfin saw revenues dip 2% year-on-year in its first quarter report published last month.