ZILLOW GROUP (ZG) Stock News, Jul-Aug 2026

Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) reports that the typical U.S. asking rent, measured by the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), reached $1,962 in July, up 2.3% year over year, the fastest annual pace in more than a year. About 39.8% of rentals listed on Zillow offered a concession, up from 35.9% a year earlier, reflecting lingering effects of a recent apartment construction surge even as multifamily permitting has fallen 31% from its 2022 peak.

According to Zillow, a household now needs $78,488 in annual income to comfortably afford the typical U.S. rental, versus nearly $99,800 to afford a typical mortgage payment, a gap of more than $21,000. Single-family rents rose 3% to $2,314, outpacing multifamily rent growth of 1.7% to $1,786. Markets with less new construction, such as San Francisco (9.7% rent growth, $3,372) and San Jose (7%, $3,782), are seeing faster rent increases and fewer deals, while high-supply markets like Charlotte, Denver and Dallas show concession rates above 65%.

Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) and StreetEasy released an analysis of American Community Survey data showing that families with children face the heaviest rent burden in the U.S. About 31.7% of family households with children rent, and 54.1% of those renter families spend more than 30% of income on housing, versus 49.7% of all renters.

Zillow reports that only 37% of rentals listed in July 2026 had two bedrooms and 24.4% had three or more, limiting options for more than one‑third of renters who have children. The companies link this pressure to an estimated 4.7 million‑home national housing deficit and cite restrictive zoning and permitting backlogs as key supply constraints.

According to Zillow, over 300,000 vacant lots—17.4% of all for-sale listings in June 2026—could help close the gap if developed, potentially reducing the deficit by at least 6.3%. The firms advocate more flexible zoning, faster permitting and better financing for manufactured housing to expand family-sized rental and ownership options.

Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) reports that July U.S. home sales rose 7% year over year to an estimated 382,898 transactions, the strongest annual gain of 2026, largely reflecting offers accepted in June when mortgage rates were near 6.5%.

Newly pending listings, a leading indicator of future closings, increased just 0.3% from a year earlier and fell 7.7% from June, suggesting softer sales ahead amid higher mortgage rates. The typical U.S. home value reached $371,757, up 0.4% month over month and 1.1% year over year. The typical monthly mortgage payment was $1,888, 0.9% lower than a year before, while nationwide inventory stood at 1.41 million homes, 1.5% above last year with new listings up 3.1%. Rents averaged $1,962, 2.3% higher than a year ago, and 39.8% of rental listings offered concessions.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) reported Q2 2026 revenue of $772 million, up 18% year over year and above the high end of its outlook. For Sale revenue rose 14% to $549 million, including Residential $465 million (+7%) and Mortgages $84 million (+75%), driven by a 95% increase in purchase loan origination volume to $2.2 billion. Rentals revenue grew 31% to $209 million, led by 42% growth in multifamily.

Zillow Group posted a net loss of $4 million (net loss margin 1%) versus net income of $2 million a year earlier, while Adjusted EBITDA was $176 million (23% margin) and adjusted net income was $118 million, or $0.52 diluted adjusted EPS. The company ended Q2 with $682 million in cash and investments and repurchased 5.6 million shares for $200 million. Traffic declined 2% year over year to 239 million average monthly unique users and 2.5 billion visits, though Zillow Group reports it outperformed the overall residential real estate category on audience reach.

Zillow Group (Nasdaq: Z, ZG) announced multiple executive leadership changes effective August 2026. Jeremy Hofmann, currently chief financial officer, has his role expanded to include chief operating officer, giving him responsibility for both financial strategy and day-to-day operational execution. Former COO Jun Choo is stepping down from the role to focus on his health and will remain as an advisor through the end of 2026.

Zillow also appointed Cassandra “Sandi” Knight as its first chief legal and policy officer, overseeing legal, compliance and government relations, and promoted Katie Berroth to senior vice president of strategy & operations and Eric Wilson to senior vice president and general manager of mortgages.

Zillow (NASDAQ:Z, ZG) released survey results from 366 U.S. real estate agents, conducted July 2–20, 2026, showing strong support for key buyer protections but weaker perceived benefits for agents. 88% of agents say independent representation benefits buyers, versus 61% who say it benefits agents. 86% say buyers deserve access to all listings, while 70% see this as good for agents. The largest gap is on fee negotiation (77% buyer benefit vs. 46% agent benefit). Zillow also cites prior analysis that sellers in same‑agent dual‑agency deals lost a combined $1.49 billion over three years, or about $2,165 per home.

Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) reports that the U.S. housing market is increasingly split between starter and luxury homes. Starter home inventory rose 4.5% year over year in June, with price cuts on 25% of listings and sales down 5.4% in May. In contrast, luxury inventory fell 5.2%, luxury sales climbed 6.2%, and price cuts affected 20.6% of listings. According to Zillow, the typical starter home is valued around $202,000 (up 2.3% YoY), while the typical luxury home is about $1.9 million (up 3.1% YoY). San Francisco shows the sharpest divergence, with luxury sales up 21.6% and starter sales down 1.2% year over year.

Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) reports that the typical U.S. asking rent reached $1,965 in June, up 2.2% year over year, even as 39.7% of listings on Zillow included a rental concession, up from 35.2% a year earlier. Concessions include offers such as a free month’s rent or waived fees, reducing renters’ effective costs.

According to Zillow, years of robust construction have boosted inventory, especially in Sun Belt markets like Charlotte (67.1% concessions), Denver (65.9%) and Dallas (64.6%), supporting high concession rates and slower rent growth or declines. Rents fell in San Antonio (-1.8%), Austin (-1.7%) and Denver (-1.3%). In tighter markets, rents are rising faster with fewer deals: San Francisco leads with 8.2% annual growth to $3,301 and a 24.9% concession share, while San Jose and Chicago saw rents rise 6.2% and 5.2%, respectively.

Zillow notes single-family rents climbed 3% year over year to $2,320, about double the 1.5% increase for multifamily units, now at $1,789. With building completions slowing and net absorption rising, Zillow expects the rental market to gradually tighten, concession offers to become less common over time, and rent growth for 2026 to remain moderate, with forecast gains of 3.1% for single-family rentals and 2% for multifamily.

Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) released new research estimating the U.S. housing shortage at 4.7 million homes, identifying 300,242 empty lots of 5 acres or less listed for sale on its platform in June 2026, equal to 17.4% of all for-sale listings. Building one home on each lot could trim the deficit to roughly 4.44 million homes, a 6.3% reduction, which Zillow describes as conservative given the typical lot size of 0.57 acres.

The largest lot counts are in Florida (42,601), Texas (40,907) and California (18,508), while rural markets show the highest concentration of empty lots at 25.3% of listings, versus 13.6% in suburbs and 9% in urban areas. Rural land has a median price of about $75,000 per acre, compared with more than $181,000 in suburbs and about $500,000 in cities. Zillow is also taking part in a 12-week federal tech sprint with the U.S. Census Bureau's Opportunity Project to explore ways to expand access to small-dollar housing loans in rural communities and reduce frictions for buyers seeking to purchase and build on an empty lot.