Redfin Pressing Its Inventory Advantage in Chicago
In late May, Redfin (supported by Rocket) started advertising its inventory advantage in Chicago with the message, “more homes than anyone else.”
Why it matters: Access to more listings is the one thing consumers care about most – and is the most credible pathway for a challenger portal to gain market share.
Redfin’s inventory advantage in Chicago is the result of its partnership with Compass, and Midwest Real Estate Data, or MRED, temporarily cutting off Zillow’s listing feed.
The ads are running across the Chicago market digitally and as outdoor advertising.
The key message is simple, clear, and focused: more homes than anyone else.
As a result of the advertising push, Redfin says they are seeing a significant increase in traffic, listing leads, and mortgage leads to Rocket.
Redfin’s advertising playbook is strikingly similar to the infamous Compass billboard from 2024 (above) and the Redfin bus mockup (below) that I created earlier this year for a presentation.
Excuse the pun, but it’s not Rocket science: consumers care about listings, and are willing to visit multiple websites and change search behavior to make sure they’re not missing anything.
This is advertising focused on the one thing that can move the needle.
The bottom line: Challenging an incumbent real estate portal is exceedingly difficult, but we’re finally at the moment where a deep-pocketed business is starting to press the one advantage consumers care about: more listings.
With Homes.com, we saw what happens when a company spends $1 billion on advertising with the message, “Hey, we exist, and Dan Levy is usually pretty funny.”
Now we get to see what happens when a company spends $1 billion on advertising with the message, “We have more homes than anyone else.”