Zillow Q1 2025: $8M Net Profit as Revenues Hit $598 Million

Zillow Group, the operator behind the United States' most popular real estate portal, reported a net profit in this week's unaudited Q1 report. The company exceeded its revenue and Adjusted EBITDA outlook for the first three months of the year.

Highlights include:

• Revenue was up 13% year over year to $598 million
• Net income was $8 million, and net income margin was 1%
• Adjusted EBITDA was $153 million, or 26% of revenue
• For Sale revenue was up 8% year over year to $458 million
  • Residential revenue was up 6% year over year to $417 million
  • Mortgages revenue increased 32% year over year to $41 million
• Rentals revenue increased 33% year over year to $129 million
• Traffic to Zillow Group’s mobile apps and sites in Q1 was up 5% year over year to 227 million average monthly unique users

Jeremy Wacksman, CEO at Zillow, said:

"Our strong Q1 results surpassed our expectations and demonstrate how well we’re executing. We are on track to meet our full-year 2025 goals, and we’re well-positioned to deliver sustainable profitable growth. As we expand our services and scale the housing super app across more markets, we are bringing more customers and real estate professionals together and making buying, selling, and renting easier for them, which is helping us grow both our revenue and profits."

Zillow has consistently reported itself as a loss-making business. For comparison, the business reported a $23 million net loss in the same period last year.

Zillow's profitability is a timely vote of confidence for the business, given its recent announcement that it will not show listings not published on the MLS—the multiple listings service—within 24 hours of an agent or broker marketing it publicly.

The turnaround was driven by significant revenue growth for Zillow's Mortgages (32%) and Rentals (38%) segments, with Wacksman stating in his letter to shareholders:

"We continue to see double-digit adoption of Zillow Home Loans across all Enhanced Markets. And now, 70% of movers choosing financing through Zillow Home Loans are also working with a Premier Agent partner, up from 60% a year ago.

"Mortgages revenue increased 32% year over year to $41 million in Q1, driven by 32% growth in our purchase loan origination volume to $791 million.

"Zillow Rentals is rapidly becoming the comprehensive, one-stop marketplace renters and professionals have needed, with more than 2 million active rental listings spanning single-family homes, large multifamily buildings, and everything in between. We ended Q1 with 55,000 multifamily properties on Zillow Rentals, up 38% year over year — accelerating even further to 60,000 as of early May.

"Our strategic partnerships — with Realtor.com and most recently with Redfin and AppFolio—are another key factor in Zillow Rentals’ success as we aim to expand our reach. We expect year-over-year Rentals revenue growth to keep accelerating quarterly throughout 2025."

"We’re proud of how we’ve begun the year and look forward to sharing our continued progress with you all."

Wacksman also forecasted net profitability for the full year.

Meanwhile, Zillow said it is working to integrate Virtual Staging AI, developed at Harvard Innovations Labs and a member of the National Association of Realtors, into its suite of agent software and advertising solutions.

Zillow recently began rolling back its two-tab search experience to put all listings, including FSBO, into the same category as traditional listings.