CoStar has been on the hunt for a residential real estate listing site for some time. The commercial data giant bought HomeSnap in 2020 for $250 million and made a bid to buy CoreLogic in 2021. That bid was eventually rejected as CoreLogic opted instead to sell to a private equity group.

Earlier this year news broke that CoStar was in talks to buy Move Inc. from its parent company NewsCorp. Move has a number of residential real estate technology companies under its umbrella including Realtor.com and Avail. The sale was initiated by NewsCorp whose slumping profits have forced it to look for ways to streamline its operations and divest in non-core assets.

This is likely only a temporary setback for CoStar. CEO Andy Florence has been very vocal about his intentions to expand into the residential market and compete with the likes of Zillow. CoStar already has a huge part of the commercial data market under its control as its platform is the go-to for many commercial brokers and owners. Its other company, Loopnet, has also remained one of the main commercial sale and leasing listing platforms. So, rather than trying to fight for an even larger stake in the commercial sector it sees an easier path for growth in residential. Stay tuned for what will likely be another bid from CoStar to acquire its way into residential brokers’ tech stack.

Source:  PropModo