Is Zillow putting its own home listings ahead of others? According to a new report, the real estate giant is doing just that.

Back in April 2018, Zillow announced that it will begin buying and selling homes directly to and from homeowners and began a test program in two markets, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Now it appears the company is testing priority search result placement for its own real estate listings.

According to Inman (metered paywall), Zillow is testing priority placement of homes it owns at the top of search results on its mobile apps and website, ahead of other for-sale homes, in the Phoenix and Las Vegas real estate markets. 

From the article:

Now the company confirms that it is running tests on Zillow.com and its mobile apps that will show its own for-sale homes at the top of its home search pages, ahead of other competing for-sale listings.

Inman first observed this behavior when searching for properties in Phoenix, Arizona, on Zillow’s website and mobile app. 

In fact, 22 of the 26 homes listed on the first page of an Inman reporter’s search results of for-sale and potential listings on a desktop, were homes owned by Zillow.

In Las Vegas, Zillow Offers’ second market, it took until the second page of searching for a non-Zillow-owned home to show up, searching only for-sale and potential listings under $600,000.

Zillow Offers works by allowing homeowners to request a no-obligation cash offer from Zillow to buy their home. If they accept it, Zillow buys a seller’s house directly, prepares it for showings and quickly lists it for sale.

After its initial launch, the company also expanded to the markets of Atlanta, Denver and Charlotte, South Carolina. In 2019, the company plans to expand to Dallas, Raleigh, North Carolina; Houston; Riverside, California; Miami; Minneapolis-St.Paul; Nashville; Orlando and Portland.