CoStar sues Zillow for copyright infringement

🚪 July, we're so glad we had you. Today's newsletter is 641 words — a 2.5-minute read.

1. CoStar sues Zillow for copyright infringement

CoStar has filed a lawsuit against Zillow, accusing the company of 'outrageous' copyright infringement for allegedly using more than 46,000 CoStar-owned photos.

The case, filed in a New York federal court yesterday, claims that Zillow is using watermarked images owned by CoStar Group across its own sites, as well as on Redfin and Realtor.com through rental listing syndication deals.

In a press release, CoStar called it 'one of the largest — if not the largest — image infringement cases in history,' with potential damages reaching $1 billion.

2. Compass reports 10 all-time high metrics

Compass’ revenue rose 21.1 percent year over year to $2.06 billion, setting a new all-time high for the brokerage. Transactions were also up 20.9 percent, even as overall market transactions declined by 0.9 percent.

The company added 832 principal agents organically in the second quarter, growing its total from 16,997 at the end of Q2 2024 to 20,965 by the end of Q2 2025.

Compass agents closed 73,025 transactions in the second quarter, a 20.9 percent increase year over year.

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3. Catch up quick

🎨 Anywhere Real Estate affiliates will have free access to Canva. (Anywhere)

🏡 Opendoor announces new home seller option. (Opendoor)

🏗️ Centurion American to build 1,300 home lots near Lake Texoma. (DallasNews)

🤖 Waymo plans to bring its robotaxi service to Dallas in 2026. (CNBC)

💘 Netflix’s ‘Love is Blind’ is casting in Austin. (KineticContent)

QUICK POLL

4. Homeownership rate hits lowest level since 2019

According to the Census’s Housing Vacancy Survey, the latest homeownership rate declined to 65% in Q2 2025, marking its lowest level since late 2019.

Compared to the peak of 69.2% in 2004, the homeownership rate is currently 4.2 percentage points lower and remains below the 25-year average rate of 66.3%.

Here are the key takeaways from the survey:

• The Midwest leads all regions in homeownership at 69.5%.

• Homeowner vacancy held steady at 1.1%, still tight by historical standards.

• Rental vacancy fell to 7%, with principal cities highest at 7.6%.

• The South had the highest rental vacancy at 9%, while the Northeast had the lowest at 5.2%.

• Homeownership among buyers under 35 dropped to 36.4%, the lowest rate since before the pandemic.

5. First-time buyers flock to older homes

First-time homebuyers are gravitating toward older, smaller homes as starter homes, rather than new construction on the outskirts of town, according to a new report from Cotality.

Land costs, rising prices for building materials, and low supply have put pressure on the market — making the cost of new construction homes increasingly out of reach for first-time buyers.

As of April, the median price for a new construction home was $430,000 — and most homes require a 20 percent cash down payment. Based on the report, new-home sales dropped by more than 20 percent each month during the first four months of 2025.

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