Zillow Zeitgeist 2025: How America searched for homes this year

Waterfront searches climbed, flexible spaces gained momentum and comfort replaced luxury in the 2025 review of U.S. home-search behavior

SEATTLE, Dec. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Lifestyle over luxury: That's the defining theme of Americans' home-search behavior in 2025. The insight comes from the 2025 Zillow Zeitgeist SM, an annual review of how Americans searched for homes. This year's search trends find home shoppers gravitating toward adaptable spaces and attainable comforts.

Search behavior in 2025 shifted away from square footage and high-end features toward homes that support lifestyles. Americans searched more often for proximity to water, flexible layouts that accommodate family needs and small comforts that make a home feel functional and personal.

"2025 was the year people stopped searching for more home and started searching for more meaning at home," said Amanda Pendleton, Zillow's home trends expert. "Across the country, buyers want homes that can flex for family, offer access to nature and deliver small daily comforts that make life feel easier and more joyful."

National trends that defined 2025

Drawn from millions of natural-language searches on Zillow in 2025, these trends capture the features and amenities shoppers asked for in their own words.

How searches shifted from 2024

State and regional highlights

Zillow Zeitgeist also highlights how local preferences shape home-shopping behavior, revealing the unique search terms that define each state's version of the perfect home.

Unique state standouts

Regional patterns

To see more trends, users can explore these search patterns at both the national and state levels here.

Methodology

Zillow Zeitgeist analyzes aggregated search activity on Zillow across calendar year 2025, surfacing national themes and state‑level patterns from commonly searched keywords and year‑over‑year shifts. The 2025 narrative and thematic framing derive from this search dataset and creative synthesis developed for press and owned channels.

About Zillow Group:

Zillow Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate app and website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, dedicated real estate professionals, and easier buying, selling, financing, and renting experiences.

Zillow Group's affiliates, subsidiaries and brands include Zillow®, Zillow Premier Agent®, Zillow Home Loans℠, Zillow Rentals®, Trulia®, Out East®, StreetEasy®, HotPads®, ShowingTime+℠, Spruce®, and Follow Up Boss®.

All marks herein are owned by MFTB Holdco, Inc., a Zillow affiliate. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 ( www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). © 2025 MFTB Holdco, Inc., a Zillow affiliate.

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SOURCE Zillow