The Zillow Rentals® platform and AppFolio are deepening their partnership with the introduction of Listing Spotlight, a new premium listing advertisement solution offered to AppFolio customers by Zillow and built exclusively for single-family rentals or buildings with fewer than 25 units.
Listing Spotlight offers a new, more flexible way to give top-priority listings the highest available exposure on the Zillow Rentals platform, the largest rentals network1 with the most renters.2 The product will launch at FUTURE: The Real Estate Conference by AppFolio on October 13.
“Managers of single-family rentals and smaller buildings have told us they want more exposure and flexibility in how they promote their most important listings,” said Michael Sherman, senior vice president, Zillow Rentals. “Listing Spotlight puts that power in their hands — helping the right homes stand out at the right time, while staying flexible as leasing needs shift.”
How it works
With this product, property managers can flexibly choose the number of Listing Spotlight placements that fit their business needs and purchase them through a simple monthly subscription from Zillow. For AppFolio users, it’s built directly into existing leasing workflows, making it simple for managers to activate and manage premium placements without ever leaving their platform.
Each placement can be assigned to a selected property, raising its visibility across the Zillow Rentals network, including Trulia and HotPads. As homes lease or priorities shift, managers can easily reassign placements to different listings — ensuring maximum exposure where it matters most.
While AppFolio customers will continue to benefit from free listing syndication to Zillow, Listing Spotlight provides a powerful new option that can be used on its own or alongside portfolio-level upgrades like Zillow Feed Connect.
Empowering property managers
Zillow and AppFolio first joined forces in April 2025 to launch instant tour scheduling for renters viewing AppFolio-managed listings on Zillow, simplifying coordination between renters and property managers. Renters with a Zillow rental application can now also share their saved information to automatically pre-populate matching fields in the AppFolio rental application used by property managers. This helps save time for prospective renters and can improve completion rates for property managers.
Listing Spotlight builds on that foundation, representing a major step forward in a shared commitment to make the rental process more intuitive and streamlined.
“This new offering with Zillow gives AppFolio customers the premium visibility tools they need to stay competitive in a shifting market — seamlessly integrated into their existing workflows,” said Kyle Triplett, senior vice president of product at AppFolio. “It’s about enabling smarter marketing decisions with less effort, and giving our customers greater control over their leasing funnel.”
Property managers interested in learning more about Listing Spotlight are encouraged to visit the AppFolio Stack™ Marketplace, contact their Zillow sales professional or sign up to receive more information about the integration.
1 Based on most traffic and most inventory. Traffic is measured using Comscore Visits and Unique Visitors (Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform: Custom-defined list: Zillow Rentals + Realtor.com Rentals (Jan‘24 -April’24 uses [E] Zillow Rentals data, May’24- Dec’24 data uses a custom Audience Duplication UV number for [E] Zillow Rentals & [E] Realtor.com Rentals to reflect new partnership), Apartments.com Network, RENT.COM, Apartment List Sites, and Zumper Inc, Total Audience, Jan 2024-Dec 2024, U.S.). Inventory is measured by comparing Zillow internal property count to Apartments.com data published on their website and investor materials published Feb 2025.
2 Zillow Rentals has the most traffic as measured using Comscore Visits and Unique Visitors (Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform: Custom-defined list: Zillow Rentals Expanded Network, Apartments.com Network, Apartment List Sites, and Zumper Inc, Total Audience, Total Visits, June 2024-May 2025, U.S.).