Key Details:
- In September, Homes.com reached over 100 million unique visitors, making it the second most heavily trafficked real estate portal in the U.S., trailing behind Zillow.
- The 1,290% year-over-year increase in traffic brought in 160 million monthly unique visitors in September, surpassing the monthly unique visitors of key competitors like Realtor.com and Redfin.
- CoStar Group, the parent company of Homes.com, aims to become the number one real estate portal.
Homes.com achieved a major milestone in September with over 100 million unique visitors, solidifying its position as the second most heavily trafficked real estate portal in the U.S.
Zillow continues to hold the number one spot, but Homes.com has its sights set on that next.
A New Leader in Real Estate Portals
CoStar Group, an S&P500 leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information, and analytics, announced yesterday that Homes.com brought in 160 million monthly unique visitors in September, according to Google Analytics. This is a 1,290% increase in traffic year over year for the site.
With well over 100 million unique visitors last month, Homes.com exceeded the average monthly unique visitors of two of its main competitors: Realtor.com and Redfin. Realtor.com reported 74 million unique visitors for its fiscal fourth quarter, and Redfin reported 52 million for the quarter ending June 30, 2023.
CEO of CoStar Group Andy Florance noted to Inman that this milestone has been over a year in the making.
We’ve been at this for a long time. We have more experience than anybody in real estate technology and real estate, for sure. We have a long track record of building up traffic on various sites and going from acquiring companies that are No. 5 or No. 6 in traffic and building them up to No. 1. We reimagined Homes.com from scratch. From day one, we’ve taken very experienced teams in SEO, SEM, UX and content, and this has been our single highest priority for the last 12 to 18 months. I probably literally work on this seven days a week.
A Timely Rise?
Homes.com’s breakthrough of 100 million unique monthly visitors coincides with the potential impact of class action lawsuits challenging the buyer-broker commission rule, a fundamental aspect of agent compensation. The Sitzer/Burnett v. NAR lawsuit, scheduled for trial this month, has already led to settlements from Anywhere Real Estate and RE/MAX.
With Homes.com emerging as one of the most heavily trafficked portals, it believes there is a viable alternative for lead generation available to agents, according to a statement from CoStar Group. One that does not require the high commission splits that have become the norm with first-generation real estate portals. Unlike the first-generation portals, Homes.com’s business model remains unaffected by the potential end of the buyer-broker commission rule.
We set out to deliver an agent-friendly site that homebuyers would love, and we believe 100 million unique visitors in September is evidence we have achieved that goal. We believe that the millions of leads we are generating by connecting home buyers directly to agents is generating billions of dollars of commissions for those agents.
Eyeing the #1 Spot
Don’t expect Homes.com to stop at number two. The team is focused on “continuing to build even more value for home shoppers and agents over the next six months,” with plans to begin monetizing in the second quarter of 2023, stated Florance.
Of course, the end goal is knocking Zillow off its number one spot in the real estate portal space. In a discussion with Inman, Florance said:
We are 100 percent focused on being the #1 most heavily trafficked site. I think we’re sober and understand how much hard work that is and we are committed to that. We’d love it if everyone continued to underestimate us, but nonetheless, we’re going to push it forward. We want to be #1.
