Zillow, one of the top rental search platforms in the US, is introducing a new feature that allows people to sublet single rooms in their apartments and houses.
The reason: more people can’t afford to rent a whole apartment and struggle to find a roommate, according to a survey conducted by the company. In fact, half of all US renters were cost-burdened when it came to housing (or paid more than one-third of their income on rent), a recent report from Harvard found. Housing costs have been a primary factor in keeping inflation high.
The same goes for the supply side. People who list rooms on the sites can be homeowners or renters themselves. So if you’re a renter who’s signed a lease and needs a roommate, you can list a room in your apartment on the site rather than looking for someone on Facebook (as long as you’re complying with your landlord’s rules).
There’s already a host of smaller apps and websites designed specifically to help people find roommates and single room sublets: Roomster, Sublet.com, Leasebreak.com, Roomi, Diggz, Spare Room, and more. Craigslist, once the king of sublet listings, is still common for this use, and Facebook groups are also popular.
But few major platforms offer single-room and full property rentals. Of Zillow’s big competitors, only the sites Zumper and Renthop allow renters to search for rooms, rather than whole apartments, townhomes, and houses. And Renthop only shows rentals for New York City.
“By introducing room listings, we’re crafting a robust marketplace of options that truly reflects the varied needs of renters,” said Michael Sherman, vice president of Zillow Rentals in the announcement Tuesday (Feb. 8)