top of page

CoStar acquires Homesnap, a DOJ win, and out-of-state investor markets

AGENT 1

When COVID-19 first appeared, people speculated 🤔 there could be another 2008-like recession that could affect the housing market; after all, much of the country was in lockdown 🔒 and not out shopping 🛒. Not only did a recession not happen 🙅‍♂️ then but the United States has been in a seller's 🏡 market ever since COVID-19 hit. That's led many to wonder if we're in another housing bubble 💭. With nationwide double-digit (nearly 13%) home price appreciation ↗️ from last year, we might be. And if we are, when will the bubble burst?


The pandemic has shifted the pecking order of the real estate industry’s location-location-location 📍 axiom for many homebuyers — high-cost and high-density urban 🌃 is out, while suburban is back 🔙 in vogue and rural 🏞 is experiencing a bit of a revival. Many real estate investors were serendipitously ahead of this shift even before the pandemic started, driven by both affordability and an affinity for overlooked 👀 markets.



CoStar Group is set to buy Homesnap 👌, an app and technology 🖥 provider for residential real estate agents, for $250 million, the Wall Street Journal 🗞 reported. The all-cash 💵 acquisition is expected to close later this year 🗓.



Buying your first home is fraught 😧, and that’s especially true when the market is as competitive as it is right now. Interest rates are low 📉, supply is down ↘️, and demand from new buyers is high ↗️. The market is so hot 🔥 that in September, 1 in 5 houses in the U.S. sold above its initial list price, according to data ⌗ from Zillow.


This past July ⛱, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a major lawsuit ⚖️ and settlement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) about anti-competitive 🙅‍♂️ practices. According to Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), “The settlement will discourage blatant discrimination against discount brokers and the steering 👉 of buyers 🛍 to high-commission properties 🏘, but will fail to significantly increase real price 💲 competition."


16 views

Comments


bottom of page