Some college students are using Zillow to find out how much their friends' homes cost

Zillow, the hugely popular real-estate platform, has gone from buying and selling homes to a full-fledged phenomenon.

It’s used by 227 million unique visitors every month and had 2.4 billion visits in just the first quarter of 2025 .

While not everyone is thrilled with having the value and cost of their home on full display, others take full advantage of this information.

Zillow’s public pricing details give people who want to gawk at or mock the rich an opportunity to do just that within their inner circles.

Social media, she says, has replaced the Joneses with the Kardashians .

Author Anna Goldfarb , author of Modern Friendship , says these discoveries can lead people to make assumptions about their friends' priorities.

Those looking for photos of a friend’s new house, for example, are often met with far more information than they asked for.

Although many are aware of the availability of this information, it's generally still taboo to ask someone directly how much their home costs or to bring up the fact that you’ve sought out the answer.