Despite the initial controversy, Homes.com isn’t letting up in its traffic war with Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin. The CoStar-owned portal reported late last week that it had 149 million unique visitors in February, an incredible 567% increase compared to February 2023.
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Despite the initial controversy, Homes.com isn’t letting up in its traffic war with Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin. The CoStar-owned portal reported late last week that it had reached The number of unique visitors in February was 149 millionthe number of unique visitors increased by an incredible 567% compared to February 2023.
Andy Florence
Andy Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group, said: “The latest traffic figures for the Homes.com network are a testament to our unprecedented progress in creating the most comprehensive residential portal on the market that is user-friendly for agents, sellers and buyers. Invest.” in a prepared statement.
Florance said traffic growth in February — which he attributed in part to the company’s $1 billion star-studded ad campaign — put the 25-year-old portal ahead of Realtor.com and Redfin.
According to the latest round of financial reports, Realtor.com’s average monthly unique visitors were 66 million, and Redfin’s average monthly unique visitors were 44 million. Meanwhile, Zillow continues to lead with 194 million average monthly unique visitors.
“Our ‘your listings, your leads’ model has been extremely popular and is resonating well with agents across the country, working in favor of agents rather than against them to keep them relevant to their local area. understanding and relationships with buyers.” “We are pleased to see such a positive response from homebuyers and sellers.”
In addition to Homes.com’s traffic growth, CoStar’s results came after analysts on Monday raised their outlook after the National Association of Realtors filed a $418 million settlement in several Buyer’s Brokers Council lawsuits, including Sitzer | Another step up. Burnett.
The settlement, which has not yet been approved, also includes overturning cooperative compensation rules. If the settlement is approved, multiple listing services will no longer display compensation offers by mid-July.
BofA Securities analyst Heather Balsky and JMP Securities analyst Nicholas Jones Both of them upgraded their opinions CoStar said the NAR’s “settlement and policy changes” could be “positive” for CoStar as the “listing agent…seeks independence from the buyer’s agent.”
Balsky raised his price target to $111 per share from $97, while Jones raised his price target to $110 per share from $85.
Shares of CoStar (NASDAQ: CSGP ) have been rising since the analyst upgrade. The company’s stock price closed at $87.87 per share on Thursday, March 14, and topped the $90 mark following NAR’s announcement on Friday. The stock’s gains continued after settlement, with CoStar shares trading above $94 as of Tuesday.
CoStar stock as of 1:31 PM CST on March 19.
Meanwhile, shares of Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) and Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN) have fallen 13.50% and 19.74%, respectively, over the past five days, with the largest losses occurring after the settlement was announced. Shares of News Corp, the parent company of Realtor.com, also took a hit; however, there was no indication that the decline was due to NAR’s statement.
Florence, who has long argued that repealing the partnership compensation rules would allow Homes.com to leapfrog its rivals, denounced rivals for “baiting and changing business strategies” at Inman Connect in New York.
“In other parts of the world, when an agent has a listing, their name is on the listing, their phone number is on the listing, and that creates a branding effect,” Florence said. of his competitors, whom he calls “Ziltorfin.”
“Only in the United States does the brand of the portal appear in the list, not the brand of the agency. This is strange.
“If you’re an agent you probably won’t notice this, but buyers have been trained to never click ‘contact agent’ because if you do you’ll need to buy a new phone,” he added. “I’ve tried it. I’ve submitted leads for three homes and received 140 calls, emails, texts and voicemails in 24 hours.”
Florance said on a third-quarter earnings call that Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin took advantage of buyer-broker commission rules to create a system that funneled listing information to a small group of agents who were then redirected when consumers visited the sites. Agencies pay for visibility.
“A lot of agents and brokers are strongly opposed to this model,” he said of the idea that agents could pay to appear in listings that don’t belong to them. “Now that Homes.com is one of the most trafficked portals, agents have access to a powerful and viable lead generation alternative without having to make various commission splits.”
While CoStar may be positioning itself for victory, analysts also say Homes.com’s archrival Zillow has the capital and experience to adapt its business model.
“(Zillow) may also benefit in time,” Stephens & Co. analyst John Campbell said on Friday.
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