CoStar Group is using Boost, its new Homes.com marketing feature, in an attempt to counter the bans by Zillow and Redfin on listings that are publicly marketed prior to being entered into the MLS.
On Thursday, CoStar Group CEO Andy Florance told Inman News that Boost will be free for listings impacted by the Zillow and Redfin bans.
The firm unveiled Boost during its first-quarter 2025 earnings call with investors and analysts in late April. During the call, Florance described Boost as a new marketing option for a single listing.
“For agents with unpredictable income and not yet ready to commit to an annual membership, they can boost one listing via e-commerce,” Florance said on the call.
“Just like membership, once ‘boosted,’ their listing sources at the top of search results, receives a Matterport (3D virtual tour) and is retargeted across the internet,” he added. “This is a low-risk purchase option for an agent because they can go into a listing presentation, use the Boost as a differentiator, but they only have to pay for it when they win the listing and have offsetting commission revenue.”
Agents can “boost” a listing for a one-time fee of $260. The listing will be included on the first page of a buyer’s search in a neighborhood or community. The boost on the listing will last until a sale closes.
According to CoStar, boosted listings also get priority in Homes.com’s targeted ads across all social media platforms and sites like ESPN or The New York Times.
In an interview with Inman, Florance said that Homes.com “is going to support any agent who gets blackballed or blacklisted on Zillow, and boost their listing.”
“We don’t think it’s right to ban people’s listings for your economic interest,” Florance said.
Zillow, a staunch supporter of the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP), announced in early April that it was banning all listings that were publicly marketed prior to being entered into the MLS. Less than a week later, Redfin announced a similar policy.
“Redfin.com will not publish any listings that have been publicly marketed before being shared with all real estate websites via the MLS,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said in a statement.
CoStar Group and Florance immediately pushed back, with Florance calling Zillow’s move “a pure power play of epic proportions.”
“Zillow is asserting that they — not NAR, not your brokerage, not you the listing agent — and not even the homeowner whose house it is and is paying the commission — should decide how a listing is marketed,” Florance wrote in an open letter to agents.
“This isn’t about protecting consumers. It’s about protecting Zillow’s ability to profit from your listings by selling your leads to competing agents.”
