A new academic study is raising uncomfortable questions about the price of convenience in digital homebuying. Research by economist Steven C. Salop suggests borrowers who used Zillow Home Loans paid higher mortgage rates than comparable homebuyers who went through other lenders — a gap that appears to have widened as the platform scaled.

While the difference may sound modest, the study argues it adds up to real money over the life of a loan and may fall more heavily on lower-income and minority borrowers. If accurate, the findings push the conversation beyond competition and into fair-lending territory at a moment when large real estate platforms are already facing heightened scrutiny.

The study’s timing — and its sponsorship by Zillow rival CoStar — ensures it will not land quietly. With critics challenging the methodology and Salop standing by his conclusions, the research sets up a larger question now hanging over residential real estate: when housing, search, and financing collapse into a single platform, who ultimately pays the price?

Chicago’s suburban office vacancy reached a new record at the end of 2025, with nearly one-third of space sitting empty as tenants retrench and owners struggle to find demand. Data from JLL shows available space climbing around 33 percent in the region, a sharp contrast with even modestly healthier pockets downtown. Suburban buildings that once catered to corporate headquarters and administrative functions are suddenly far harder to fill, leaving corridors of dark space that rent rolls can’t absorb.

What’s happening in the Chicago suburbs is not unique, but it is an acute reflection of what office markets across the U.S. have been processing since hybrid work became mainstream. Across Sun Belt and Rust Belt regions alike, suburban buildings (especially older, commodity stock with long floor plates and low amenity scores) are bearing the brunt of downsizing. Even markets where urban cores have shown signs of stabilization still see suburban vacancy climb as occupiers trade square footage for flexibility and proximity to transit and talent clusters.

The sheer volume of unused space is forcing a rethinking of traditional suburban office as a stable real-estate asset class. Some landlords are exploring partial conversions to industrial, drop-off logistics or experiential use, while others are assessing demolition or redevelopment into housing. Chicago’s suburban vacancy story is messy, but it points to a larger truth: office demand is realigning, and suburban stock that fails to adapt is unlikely to recover its role from the pre-pandemic era.

A federal judge has dismissed News Corp from a copyright lawsuit tied to photos used on Realtor.com, narrowing a case that centers on who is responsible for images that appear on listing portals. The suit was brought by a professional photographer who alleges her copyrighted photos were displayed on Realtor.com without permission. She argues the unauthorized use reduced the value of her work and violated federal copyright law. News Corp was named because it owns Realtor.com through its subsidiary Move, Inc., but the court found it was too removed from day-to-day operations to be held liable at this stage.

The case is not over. The judge allowed claims against Move, which operates Realtor.com, to continue and left the door open for the plaintiff to amend her complaint. The dispute turns on how listing photos flow from agents and MLSs to portals, and who bears responsibility when licensing breaks down. Portals typically do not upload photos themselves. They rely on feeds from brokerages and MLSs, which creates layers of distance between the platform and the original creator. That structure has increasingly been tested in court.

For listing portals, the ruling offers limited relief but no real clarity. Being dismissed from a suit does not eliminate exposure when similar claims continue to surface across the industry. Zillow is still fighting a sweeping copyright case brought by CoStar over rental listing photos, and other portals face scrutiny over how content is sourced and reused. Together, these disputes highlight a growing risk for platforms built on aggregation. As portals push deeper into transactions and monetization, the legal tolerance for loose content controls appears to be shrinking.

Propmodo Daily is written and edited by Franco Faraudo with contributions from readers like you and the Propmodo team.

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