Zillow Targets Growing Share of Market With ‘Housing Super App’

Zillow is expanding its “housing super app” to more markets after seeing how well it has been received.

The company is also continuing to add functionality to the app for both the real estate sales and rentals markets, Zillow said in a presentation released Tuesday (Feb. 13) in conjunction with its quarterly earnings call.

The app is designed to simplify a difficult transaction, Rich Barton, co-founder and CEO of Zillow, said during the call.

“Everyone who has moved knows that the process is complicated, time consuming and expensive,” Barton said. “The onus is primarily on the consumer to play the role of project manager/systems integrator to research, shop, select, finance, appraise and close, bringing all these disparate pieces together. It’s a labyrinth, and it’s clear that consumers want and need better. And they’ll eventually get it. They always do.”

Zillow set out to solve this challenge by building a “housing super app” that brings all these pieces together on one platform, Barton said. Today, the app provides consumers with real estate data, education, a suite of Zillow-owned solutions and a network of its partners.

As the app adds functions, it can earn a greater share of the real estate market that has a total transaction value of $2 trillion, according to a Zillow press release issued Tuesday.

“Zillow is now the container into which we will continually place new features and services that work together seamlessly to solve real customer and partner pain points in their moves,” Barton said during the earnings call.

Barton also highlighted a new digital tool launched by the company: Zillow Immerse, an app for the Apple Vision Pro, which launched earlier this month. 

With this new app and the mixed-reality headset, users can experience a 360-degree view of every room in homes that are for sale, Zillow said in a Feb. 1 press release. While taking this virtual tour, they can use an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated floor plan as a guide.

“It’s early, but it’s an extraordinary home touring experience,” Barton said during the call. “We have been and will continue to be the company that is on the leading edge of utilizing technology to create magical new consumer and agent experiences.”