Inman News readers are not an interventionist bunch, with nearly 8 in 10 saying antitrust regulators should just stay the heck out of the way of Zillow’s plan to acquire Trulia.
Should federal regulators intervene in the Zillow-Trulia merger?
It’s conceivable that putting the nation’s two most popular real estate search sites under one roof might someday result in real estate brokers and agents paying more for leads (Zillow says it intends to continue operating Trulia as a separate website, and has no immediate plans to raise prices).
The National Association of Realtors — which through an agreement with Move Inc. governs the operation of the nation’s third most popular real estate search portal, realtor.com — has reportedly asked regulators to intervene.
But only 12 percent of Inman News readers want the Federal Trade Commission to block the deal, while 6 percent would like to see conditions imposed that would preserve competition.
More than 77 percent of the 456 readers responding to the poll through Tuesday, Aug. 19 said just let the deal go through. If the FTC wants to intervene, it has until Sept. 3 to request more information about the merger.
