CoStar Aims to Lead the New Generation of Apartment Hunters
In an age where more and more Americans are renting rather than owning, CoStar is banking on Apartments.com as the go-to apartment-hunting site of the future, reports The Wall Street Journal. CoStar acquired the site early this year for $584.2M and has already spent $80M updating the technology, researching and photographing 400,000 properties, sending out “secret shoppers” to vet spaces, and even chartering planes to scout new construction. And while the site has already relaunched, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Next month expect to see a $100M marketing campaign featuring Jeff Goldblum. In fact, founder and CEO Andy Florance expects the total investment to top $1B in the next few years. It’s already paying off: Apartment.com’s software updates 90,000 listings a day and tracks 770,000 rentals in more than 462,000 buildings nationwide—up from just 17,500.
