New Zillow tool helps renters avoid unexpected costs
Zillow introduces the Cost of Renting Summary to bring transparency to rental expenses SEATTLE, July 19, 2023 -- Zillow's new Cost of Renting Summary gives renters clear insight into the financial obligations of renting, making it easier than ever to understand the costs involved. This feature is now available on all detail pages for rental multifamily buildings across the Zillow app and website. The Cost of Renting Summary was purposely built to empower the average monthly 28 million unique visitors to Zillow Rentals1 with the information they need to make informed decisions throughout their housing journey. According to Zillow's Consumer Housing Trends Report (CHTR), 80% of renters said staying within their initial budget is highly important — more than any other factor in choosing a home. However, many renters may not be aware that their budget needs to account for more than just the monthly rent. Zillow's latest CHTR report shows that the typical security deposit for renters who paid one was between $500 and $999. And for renters who paid an application fee, the typical amount was between $40 and $59. These onetime fees and any ongoing monthly charges can quickly add up, potentially pushing renters beyond their desired budget range. The new feature was recognized today by the White House in an announcement outlining President Biden's efforts to lower costs for renters. The Administration's commitment to promoting transparent pricing aligns perfectly with Zillow's mission to bring clarity to renters. The recognition is part of a long partnership with the White House, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and policy makers to highlight Zillow's pro-consumer products and economic research. "Renters should feel financially confident when applying for an apartment, no surprises included," said Christopher Roberts, senior vice president and general manager of Zillow Rentals. "Transparency is at the core of our commitment to renters, and tools like the Cost of Renting Summary provide them with the comprehensive data to navigate the housing market and discover the perfect home within their budget." The Cost of Renting Summary leverages available data provided by Zillow's multifamily partners to preload the tool with information about monthly costs, such as rent, parking fees and pet fees, as well as onetime expenses like security deposits, application fees and administration fees. Now renters can view the total cost of renting a specific unit they are interested in directly on the building's detail page, making it easier to assess affordability. Zillow will continue to enhance the tool to enable renters to customize the data themselves with more details, such as utilities and cable/internet, enabling them to tailor the cost summary to their specific needs, giving them a more personalized experience. The Cost of Renting Summary is one of many products Zillow offers to create ease, address inequities and help renters save money. Others include: Universal applications: Zillow offers a streamlined online application process for both renters and housing providers. For a flat fee, renters can use a single form to apply to multiple participating properties on Zillow within 30 days. This saves renters time and money, as they no longer need to pay multiple application fees. The "soft" credit-pull feature allows landlords to check credit without impacting renters' credit scores. Fair housing resources: Rental listings on Zillow display available local legal protections, such as source-of-income and LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws. This ensures that renters are aware of their rights and helps housing providers understand their legal obligations. Anti-discrimination tools: Zillow utilizes technology to screen new rental listings and filter for discriminatory content based on federal, state and local fair housing laws, including source-of-income and other anti-discrimination laws. Housing Connector: Zillow has partnered with Housing Connector to connect clients experiencing homelessness with available and affordable rental housing. This program has created a network of more than 73,000 rental units and has housed 5,000 people since its launch in 2020. Help for renters to unlock homeownership: Zillow displays down payment assistance information on eligible for-sale home listings to help renters in their journey toward homeownership. A feature for veterans allows them to search for condos that accept Veterans Affairs loans, expanding affordable homeownership options. Zillow also provides buyers with an easy-to-use affordability calculator found on the Home Loans tab on Zillow's homepage, helping them determine their budget and connect with a loan officer to assess both their qualified mortgage amount and what they're comfortable paying. Zillow is committed to developing innovative products and supporting policies that break down barriers in the rental market to enhance ease and transparency, creating a more pro-consumer market that is fair and accessible, and offers abundant housing options for all. About Zillow Group Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, great partners, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences. Zillow Group's affiliates, subsidiaries and brands include Zillow®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans℠; Zillow Closing Services℠; Trulia®; Out East®; StreetEasy®; HotPads®; and ShowingTime+℠, which includes ShowingTime®, Bridge Interactive®, and dotloop®.

Zumper furthers AI offerings by introducing a plugin for ChatGPT
The new plugin uniquely leverages amenity and local data for its rental search SAN FRANCISCO, June 1, 2023 -- Today, Zumper, North America's largest privately owned rental marketplace, announces a plugin that enables users to discover Zumper listings by conversing directly with ChatGPT. Leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this innovative tool will help users sort through Zumper's database of over 1 million listings quickly, intuitively and with hyper-personalized results. Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is a state-of-the-art language model that can understand and generate text that closely resembles human conversation. Zumper's new ChatGPT plugin is able to respond to inquiries about listings, fine-tune search results based on a variety of preferences, and deliver detailed descriptions of properties. The plugin can also maintain complex, contextual conversations, which ensures a consistent and meaningful dialogue that caters to the unique needs and queries of each user. "By integrating sophisticated models, our goal is to refine and enhance the user experience," said Zumper's Chief Experience Officer Shalin Amin. "We envision a future where the complexities of finding the perfect rental are significantly reduced, and users can quickly and effortlessly access tailored listings that align with their unique preferences and requirements." Other real estate ChatGPT plugins available now only have the ability to narrow searches by city, bedroom count and price. Zumper's ChatGPT plugin can fine-tune searches based on those 3 features and also incorporates amenity and local data on top of that. For example, a user can ask the Zumper ChatGPT plugin to "Find two-bedroom homes with in-unit laundry and hardwood floors in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco that are under $5,000'' and the tool will deliver results directly from Zumper's listing database of over 1 million available rentals. A user can continue to narrow the search by asking things such as the closest parks or supermarkets to each listing as well as asking ChatGPT to weigh the pros and cons. Currently, Zumper's ChatGPT plugin will only show long-term rentals. Users of ChatGPT will need a premium subscription to access the plugin. While users don't need to have a Zumper account to use the plugin, if they want to message or apply to the listings ChatGPT presents, they may want to continue with the account creation process to access the suite of Zumper's renter tools and features. While this plugin represents a significant milestone in Zumper's AI journey, AI and Machine Learning (ML) have been integral to Zumper's products for years. Zumper has integrated advanced technology previously with PowerLeads AI, which uses ML to predict potential property manager leads, and by implementing ML in both its recommendation engine and spam detection tools. Zumper's commitment to integrating AI and ML technologies aims to revolutionize the property rental process, making it more personalized, efficient, and user-friendly than ever before. More advanced features and services that will elevate the rental experience for both renters and property managers alike will continue to be developed in the future. Find more information on Zumper's ChatGPT plugin here. About Zumper Zumper is the largest privately owned rental platform in North America with more than 125 million site visits a year. Zumper is on a mission to make renting a home as easy as booking a hotel. To date, Zumper has raised over $178 million from Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater Capital, Headline, Dawn Capital, and the Blackstone Group. Learn more at www.zumper.com.

ATTOM Ranks Best Counties for Buying Single-Family Rentals in 2023
Highest Potential SFR Returns in Indian River, Collier, Wayne, Mercer, Charlotte Counties; Best Returns Concentrated in South, Midwest and Northeast, Lowest in West; Rental Returns Increase From 2022 in About 90 Percent of Counties Analyzed, Reversing Years of Decline IRVINE, Calif. – Mar. 16, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its Q1 2023 Single-Family Rental Market report, which ranks the best U.S. markets for buying single-family rental properties in 2023. The report analyzed single-family rental returns in 212 U.S. counties with a population of at least 100,000 and sufficient rental and home price data. The analysis for this report incorporated median rents on 3-bedroom properties and median single-family home prices collected from ATTOM's nationwide property database, as well as publicly recorded sales deed data licensed by ATTOM (see full methodology below). The report shows that the average annual gross rental yield on three-bedroom properties, (annualized gross rent income divided by purchase price) among the 212 counties analyzed is projected to be 7.5 percent in 2023. That is up from an average of 6.7 percent in 2022 in those same markets and marked the first time since at least 2019 that the figure rose across the country. The single-family rental yield is increasing from 2022 to 2023 in 91 percent of those counties, after declining from 2021 to 2022 in 72 percent of them. With rental yields on the rise, rents are increasing faster than home prices across most of the country. From 2022 to 2023, three-bedroom rents rose more than single-family home prices in 192, or 91 percent, of the markets analyzed. Rents commonly have risen by around 5 percent to 20 percent over the past year, while changes in home values have typically ranged from a 5 percent loss to a 5 percent gain. "The broader housing market didn't fare nearly as well in 2022 as it did in 2021. Prices finally hit the wall, at least temporarily. But that appears to be benefitting the growing number of investors around the U.S. who rent out single-family properties," said Rob Barber, chief executive officer at ATTOM. "Rents for single-family homes are growing while prices have flattened out, which has helped boost yields for landlords for the first time in at least several years." The improving scenario for single-family landlords has come following a year in which the U.S. housing-market changed course. The nation's 11-year price runup abruptly stalled as home-mortgage rates doubled to near 7 percent, consumer price inflation remained at 40-year highs and the stock market fell. All those factors cut into what prospective home buyers could afford, helping to lower the nationwide home price by 8 percent in the second half of 2022 but allowing rental yields to rise. Additional price declines "could cut both ways for landlords," Barber added. "They could raise yields even more but also rekindle super-heated demand for home purchases, away from rentals." Top rental returns in Indian River, Collier, Wayne, Mercer and Charlotte counties, as well as other parts of South, Midwest and Northeast regions Counties with the highest potential annual gross rental yields for 2023 are Indian River County, FL, in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro area (15 percent); Collier County, FL, in the Naples metro area (14.7 percent); Wayne County, MI, in the Detroit metro area (13 percent); Mercer County, NJ, in the Trenton metro area (12.7 percent) and Charlotte County, FL, in the Punta Gorda metro area (12 percent). Aside from Wayne County, the highest potential annual gross rental yields in 2023 among counties with a population of at least 1 million are in Cook County (Chicago), IL (11.5 percent); Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH (10.1 percent); Oakland County, MI (outside Detroit) (9.1 percent) and Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach), FL (8.5 percent). Among the top 50 rental returns for counties analyzed in 2023, 29 are in the South, with another 13 in the Midwest and eight in the Northeast. None are in the West. Rental returns increase in most counties analyzed Potential annual gross rental yields for 2023 have increased compared to 2022 in 192 of the 212 counties analyzed in the report (91 percent). They are led by Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) (yield up 42.7 percent); San Mateo County, CA (outside San Francisco) (up 41.6 percent); Suffolk County (Boston), MA (up 41.2 percent); New Castle County (Wilmington), DE (up 40.5 percent) and San Francisco County, CA (up 38.1 percent). Aside from Orange County, the biggest increases in potential annual gross rental yields from 2022 to 2023 among counties with a population of at least 1 million are in Miami-Dade County, FL (yield up 34.1 percent); Broward County (Fort Lauderdale), FL (up 32.4 percent); Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA (up 30.1 percent) and Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach), FL (up 29.5 percent). The only counties with a population of 1 million or more showing decreases in potential gross rental yields from 2022 to 2023 are St. Louis County, MO (yield down 19.8 percent); Nassau County, NY (outside New York City) (down 2.2 percent) and Collin County (Plano), TX (down 0.4 percent). Lowest rental returns in San Francisco, San Jose, Provo, Honolulu and Washington, D.C., metro areas, along with other western markets Counties with the lowest potential annual gross returns for 2023 on three-bedroom rentals are Santa Clara County, CA, in the San Jose metro area (3.3 percent); San Mateo County, CA, in the San Francisco metro area (3.7 percent); Utah County, CA, in the Provo metro area (3.8 percent); Honolulu County in the Honolulu, HI, metro area (4.2 percent) and Loudoun County, VA (4.2 percent). Aside from Santa Clara and Honolulu counties, the lowest potential annual gross rental yields in 2023 among counties with a population of at least 1 million are in Alameda County (Oakland), CA (4.3 percent); Fairfax County, VA (outside Washington, D.C.) (4.3 percent) and Montgomery County, MD (outside Washington, D.C.) (4.5 percent). Among the bottom 50 potential rental returns for counties analyzed 2023, 34 are in the West and 14 are in the South. The Northeast and the Midwest have just one each. Rents rising faster than wages in two-thirds of counties measured Rental amounts are rising faster than wages in 147 of the 212 counties analyzed (69 percent), including Los Angeles County, CA; Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; San Diego County, CA, and Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles). Wages are increasing faster than rents in 65 of the 212 counties analyzed (31 percent), including Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ; Dallas County, TX; Clark County (Las Vegas), NV; Tarrant County (Fort Worth), TX, and Hillsborough County (Tampa), FL. Rents rising faster than home prices in 91 percent of nation Rental amounts are rising faster than home prices in 192 of the 212 counties analyzed (91 percent). They include Los Angeles County, CA; Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ, and San Diego County, CA. Home prices are going up faster than rental amounts in just 20 of the counties analyzed (9 percent), including Nassau County, NY (outside New York City); Collin County (Plano), TX; Pima County (Tucson), AZ; St. Louis County, MO, and Westchester County, NY (outside New York City). Wages rising faster than prices in more than three-quarters of markets Wages are increasing faster than home prices in 169 of the 212 counties analyzed (80 percent), including Los Angeles County, CA; Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ, and San Diego County, CA. Home prices are increasing faster than wages in 43 of the counties analyzed (20 percent). They include Collin County (Plano), TX; St. Louis County, MO; Westchester County, NY (outside New York City); Hartford County, CT, and Macomb County, MI (outside Detroit). Best SFR growth markets include Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland The report identified 17 "SFR Growth" counties where wages grew over the past year and potential 2023 annual gross rental yields exceed 10 percent. The 17 SFR Growth markets include Cook County (Chicago), IL; Wayne County (Detroit), MI; Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH; Shelby County (Memphis), TN, and New Haven County, CT. Methodology For this report, ATTOM looked at U.S. counties with a population of 100,000 or more and sufficient home price and rental rate data. ATTOM used single-family home price data from its publicly recorded sales deed data, as well as three-bedroom median priced rental data, collected and licensed by ATTOM. The analysis also incorporated second-quarter 2022 average weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (most recent available). About ATTOM ATTOM provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation's population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes, and enhances the real estate data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 30TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, property navigator and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management – ATTOM Cloud.

RentSpree and SkySlope Partner to Enhance Tech Capabilities for Rental Agents
LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2023 -- RentSpree, the industry's premier end-to-end rental management software provider, announced its latest partnership with SkySlope, a full-service transaction management solution recently named one of the top 20 proptech companies of 2022. Integrating RentSpree's online standard rental application and screening platform with SkySlope's transaction management capabilities will help agents save time and streamline the rental process even further. "We are always looking for strategic collaboration opportunities with other industry leaders to help provide best-in-class technology solutions for real estate professionals," said Michael Lucarelli, CEO and Co-Founder of RentSpree. "SkySlope is a key player in their space, and combining forces enables us to support rental agents in the most effective way possible." SkySlope, which provides time-saving solutions for real estate transactions from contract to close, was founded in 2011 and now serves more than 650,000 real estate professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada. "At SkySlope, we are always mindful of how we can serve the changing needs of real estate professionals," said SkySlope CEO Tyler Smith. "Therefore, combining forces with RentSpree is another sensible step in achieving that mission." RentSpree offers an all-in-one suite of tools, including background and credit checks, rent estimates, renters' insurance and rent payments. Its Agent Tools feature supports holistic rental management for agents, from advertising and nurturing leads to seamlessly diversifying their client portfolio, as well as supporting their rental clients' transition to homeownership in due time. "We are very deliberate in the partnerships we seek across different segments of the real estate sector," said Caroline Mulvey, Senior Client Success Manager at RentSpree. "Collaborations with top-notch proptech firms such as SkySlope are key as technology will continue to play an increasingly important part in making the daily lives of agents and brokers easier and more efficient." About RentSpree Los Angeles-based RentSpree is a provider of award-winning rental software that helps seamlessly connect real estate agents, owners, and renters to simplify and automate the entire rental process, from listing to lease. The all-in-one platform is known across all 50 states for its easy and secure interface and suite of rental tools, including tenant screening, rent payments, marketing and renter management. To date, RentSpree has partnered with more than 250 of the most influential MLSs, real estate associations and brokerages to serve over one million users in the U.S. RentSpree is ranked 625th on Inc. 5000's fastest-growing private companies in 2022. Visit www.rentspree.com for more information. About SkySlope Established in 2011, SkySlope is the customer experience platform managing real estate transactions from contract to close. Serving over 650,000 real estate professionals across the U.S. and Canada, SkySlope manages nearly 3 million transactions annually. SkySlope is on a mission to build solutions that reshape the real estate industry by creating the most powerful autonomous transaction platform. For more information, visit www.SkySlope.com.

January Rental Report: Only One Major Market Remains Below $1,000 Threshold
Oklahoma City, Okla.; Louisville, Ky.; and Birmingham, Ala. led the nation with the cheapest monthly rent payments in January SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 24, 2023 -- The financial pain of shelling out sky-high rent is a reality for many, with median prices in some U.S. metro areas at nearly $3,000 a month. Yet, in certain metros among the country's 50 largest markets, renters can still find relative affordability, according to the Realtor.com® Monthly Rental Report released today. Oklahoma City, Okla. is the only metro among the 50 largest in the nation where renters can find a median-priced apartment for less than $1,000 a month. The report showed that Oklahoma City offered the lowest monthly rental price in January, at $982. There are 10 markets where median monthly rents are lower than $1,300, according to the report. Half are in the Midwest, four are in the South, and one is in the Northeast. None are in the West. The least expensive markets are: Oklahoma City, Okla. - $982 Louisville, Ky. - $1,167 Birmingham, Ala. - $1,178 Rochester, N.Y. - $1,235 Columbus, Ohio - $1,242 Indianapolis, Ind. - $1,266 Memphis, Tenn. - $1,274 St. Louis, Mo. - $1,279 Cleveland, Ohio - $1,290 Kansas City, Mo./Kan. - $1,298 Renters looking to take advantage of the best possible prices should move quickly. While the rents in these metros are the lowest among the 50 largest, for many of them, prices are increasing at a faster rate than in the rest of the country. "With high rents across the country, places that offer relative affordability tend to be in high demand, which means more competition and that these lower prices might not last," said Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. "Many of these metros have fewer available rental homes than previous months, and fewer apartments to choose from means prices are likely to go up. Cities including Indianapolis, Birmingham, Columbus, Kansas City, Cleveland, and Rochester are among the more affordable metros that experienced the fastest year-over-year price increases in January 2023, leaving few metros that are maintaining their current level of affordability." Many of these areas also have less rental availability than in past years, suggesting that affordable metros are increasing in popularity. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2022, the average rental vacancy rate across these least expensive markets was 7.6% — a significant drop from the 9.7% vacancy rate in the fourth quarter 2017. However, seven of the most-affordable areas still had greater vacancy rates than the country's average, which was last tracked at 5.8% nationwide. Nationwide, rent growth for studio to two-bedroom properties continued to slow. Median rent was down 2.9% year-over-year, the lowest growth rate in 22 months. In comparison, January 2022 rent was up 16.2% from the year prior. Last month was the twelfth month of cooling rent growth and the sixth month in a row with a single-digit rate increase. The median asking rent in the 50 largest metros declined to $1,726, down by $7 from last month and $80 less than the August 2022 peak of $1,806. Yet, rental prices are still up 20.6% ($295 higher) from pre-pandemic January 2020. Rental Data – 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas – January 2023 Methodology Rental data as of January for studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom units advertised as for-rent on Realtor.com®. Rental units include apartments as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). We use rental sources that reliably report data each month within the top 50 largest metropolitan areas. Realtor.com® began publishing regular monthly rental trends reports in October 2020 with data history stretching back to March 2019. With the release of its January rent report, Realtor.com® incorporated a new and improved methodology for capturing and reporting more comprehensive rental listing trends and metrics. The new methodology is expected to yield a cleaner, more representative and more consistent measurement of rental listings and trends at both the national and local level. The methodology has been adjusted to better represent the true cost of primary housing for renters. Most areas across the country will see minor changes with a smaller handful of areas seeing larger updates. As a result of these changes, the rental data released since January 2023 will not be directly comparable with previous releases and Realtor.com® economics blog posts. However, future data releases, including historical data, will consistently apply the new methodology. About Realtor.com® Realtor.com® is an open real estate marketplace built for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 25 years ago. Today, through its website and mobile apps, Realtor.com® is a trusted guide for consumers, empowering more people to find their way home by breaking down barriers, helping them make the right connections, and creating confidence through expert insights and guidance. For professionals, Realtor.com® is a trusted partner for business growth, offering consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. For more information, visit Realtor.com.

Renting Costs Nearly $800 Less Per Month than Buying
The top markets with the largest savings for renters include: Austin, Texas (121.3% savings), San Francisco (97.0% savings) and Seattle (86.1% savings) SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 26, 2023 -- For many Americans hoping to make the transition to first-time buying in 2023, renting will likely offer relatively more affordable options in the months ahead, according to the Realtor.com® Monthly Rental Report released today. On average across the 50 largest U.S. metros in December, a typical renter faced a 41.4% ($792) lower monthly payment than a starter homeowner. The markets with the largest monthly savings for renters, ranked by the percent difference between monthly mortgage payments and asking rents, include: Austin, Texas (121.3% or $2,013) San Francisco, Calif. (97.0% or $2,855) Seattle, Wash. (86.1% or $1,772) San Jose, Calif. (83.0% or $2,621) San Diego, Calif. (77.2% or $2,085) Los Angeles, Calif. (74.9% or $2,150) Boston, Mass. (73.1% or $2,097) Portland, Ore. (71.2% or $1,246) Phoenix, Ariz. (70.1% or $1,116) Sacramento, Calif (67.7% or $1,241) "Despite the fact that renting will likely be cheaper than buying in 2023, rental affordability will remain a key issue throughout the year. We expect rents will keep hitting new highs, driven by factors including still-low vacancy rates, lagging new construction and demand from would-be first-time buyers," said Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. "For prospective first-time buyers, the key consideration when figuring out whether to buy or rent is how long you plan to live in your next home. If you're looking for flexibility to move in the shorter term, renting may be your best bet, and still offer opportunities to save if you're able to compromise on factors like proximity to the downtown area. Whereas buying could be the better option if you're planning to stay put for at least five years. Market conditions will play a role, but ultimately the timing comes down to your personal situation, and tools like the Realtor.com® Rent vs. Buy Calculator can help you organize and make sense of the many considerations." In December, renters faced lower monthly costs than first-time buyers, on average across the 50 largest U.S. metros and in the vast majority (45) of these markets. Additionally, the gap between the cost of renting and buying a similar-sized home widened significantly compared to December 2021. While this was partly attributed to the slowdown in rent growth seen over the past year, December trends indicate that the increase in relative rental affordability was primarily driven by skyrocketing mortgage rates. In December, the U.S. median rental price, $1,712, was $792 lower than a typical monthly starter home payment. Just 12 months ago, the difference was -$174. The widening gap between rents and first-time buying costs is largely attributed to higher starter homeownership monthly costs ($2,504), which grew 37.4% year-over-year in December – more than 10 times faster than rents (+3.2%) during the same period. Furthermore, despite the slowdown in year-over-year rent growth seen in recent months, typical asking rents ended the year up an average of 11.6% year-over-year. Renting was more affordable than first-time buying in 45 of the 50 largest markets in December, up from 30 markets at the same time last year. In the top 10 metros that favored renting over first-time buying (see table below), monthly starter homeownership costs were an average of 82.2% (+$1,920) higher than rents. Just five markets favored starter homeownership over renting in December, in terms of offering lower monthly costs; these were: Memphis, Tenn. (-32.7%), Pittsburgh (-24.1%), Birmingham, Ala. (-23.5%), St. Louis, Mo. (-6.9%) and Baltimore, Md. (-3.7%). December & Full-Year 2022 Rental Metrics – National December & Full-Year 2022 Rental Metrics – 50 Largest U.S. Metro Areas Ranked by % difference between rents and monthly starter home payments Methodology Rental data as of December 2022 for units advertised as for-rent on Realtor.com®. Rental units include apartment communities as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). All units were studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom units. National rents were calculated by averaging the medians of the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Realtor.com® began publishing regular monthly rental trends reports in October 2020 with data history going back to March 2019. The monthly cost of buying a starter home, also referred to in this release as first-time buying, was calculated by averaging the December median listing prices of studio, 1-bed, and 2-bed homes, weighted by the number of listings, in each housing market (average across the 50 largest U.S. metros: $318,697). Monthly buying costs assume a 7% down payment, with a mortgage rate of 6.36%, and include taxes, insurance and HOA fees. About Realtor.com® Realtor.com® is an open real estate marketplace built for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 25 years ago. Today, through its website and mobile apps, Realtor.com® is a trusted guide for consumers, empowering more people to find their way home by breaking down barriers, helping them make the right connections, and creating confidence through expert insights and guidance. For professionals, Realtor.com® is a trusted partner for business growth, offering consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. For more information, visit Realtor.com®.

Renters Can Now Instantly Book Apartment Tours on Zillow
Zillow is improving the challenging tour-scheduling process by enabling renters to automatically schedule tours in the same way they book restaurant reservations SEATTLE, Jan. 23, 2023 -- Zillow today announced a convenient feature which enables renters to book an apartment tour online, making the once-cumbersome process as simple as booking a restaurant reservation. More than two-thirds (71%) of recent renters reported taking up to four in-person tours, according to Zillow's 2022 Consumer Housing Trends Report. In 2021, 58% of recent renters said they preferred to schedule in-person tours online. Zillow is now allowing apartment shoppers to do just that – scheduling tours instantly, online, without the hassle and delay of having to get in touch with someone directly. With automated tour scheduling, renters are assured that they will see the apartment they're interested in at a time that works in their busy schedule, without needing to wait for a response from a property manager. Renters also receive automated email and text reminders for their appointment time. "Touring is a major milestone in the journey of finding a rental, and it's due for innovation," says Michael Sherman, vice president of Zillow Rentals. "Allowing renters to instantly book a tour removes barriers and delivers a more seamless and convenient experience for renters and property managers. Freeing up the time it takes to coordinate schedules allows renters to focus on finding their perfect place without worrying about when they'll get a chance to see it, and gives property managers valuable time back for other important tasks." Renters can now directly book tours for listings at more than 2,600 apartment buildings on Zillow, and more properties are continually adopting the technology. This functionality is made possible through Zillow's integrations with Knock® CRM and Funnel Leasing®, two leading leasing and customer relationship management platforms used by multifamily properties across the country. And soon, renters will be able to specify the type of tour they want to take (in-person, self-guided or a live virtual tour) when booking. Along with the ability to instantly book apartment tours on Zillow Rentals, the No. 1 most-visited rental network[1], renters can take advantage of other free features available now to help streamline the process. By creating a Zillow Renter Profile, renters can more quickly put their best foot forward and potentially expedite the screening process. And even before they schedule the in-person tour, renters can take an immersive virtual tour of a property using Zillow 3D Home tours to help them make a decision about which properties are worth touring in-person, and get them into their next home faster and more confidently. About Zillow Group Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make it easier to unlock life's next chapter. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates offer customers an on-demand experience for selling, buying, renting, or financing with transparency and ease. Zillow Group's affiliates and subsidiaries include Zillow®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans™; Zillow Closing Services™; Trulia®; Out East®; StreetEasy®; HotPads®; and ShowingTime+℠, which houses ShowingTime®, Bridge Interactive®, dotloop® and interactive floor plans. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). About Knock Knock®, a RealPage Company, offers an integrated suite of front office technology that provides multifamily owners and operators with the levers they need to more profitably acquire and retain high-value, long-term residents. Knock CRM empowers leasing teams with tools to accelerate successful leasing and renewal outcomes, provides marketers the data to optimize spend, and ensures executives have the business intelligence and insights needed to outperform their competitors. Learn more at www.knockcrm.com. About Funnel Funnel exists so multifamily operators don't have to pick between antiquated monopolies or single solution challengers. After decades of the status quo, operators are no more efficient, and renters still dread the process of leasing an apartment. We fixed that with an independently-owned platform that turns the entire business model on its head. Renter Management Software is a new category of connected tools built around the renter. The software delivers a consistent, connected experience from the initial inquiry through years of renewals. All this while simultaneously saving operators quantifiable money through the smaller, and happier teams that only a renter-centric platform can enable.

RentSpree Partners with Industry Leader SentriLock to Add Tech Capabilities for Rental Agents
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4, 2022 -- RentSpree, the industry's premier end-to-end rental management software provider, announced its latest partnership with SentriLock, the official electronic lockbox provider of the National Association of REALTORS®. Integrating RentSpree's online standard rental application and screening platform with SentriLock's property access management functionality enables both companies to marry important elements in the often fragmented leasing process and helps to empower and support agents as a result. "We are very deliberate in the partnerships we form, aligning ourselves with best-in-class organizations that can truly help add value to the services we provide to our rental customers," said Lauren Martin, RentSpree Sales Director. "SentriLock is the top player in the space they serve, and our partnership will deliver to anyone in the rental process a much more seamless experience. We are truly excited about this collaboration." With a 20-year track record, SentriLock offers high-strength, corrosion-resistant steel locks with the highest security rating in the industry. Together with its SentriKey Showing Service®, the company is able to provide a complete showing management solution. "We are always looking to find meaningful partnerships with other proptech vendors that can positively impact the critical role that our almost half a million REALTOR® customers play in the home search process," said SentriLock CEO and Founder Scott Fisher. "There is a nice alignment between us and RentSpree from both a culture of innovation and superior product standpoint." RentSpree offers an all-in-one suite of tools, including background and credit checks, rent estimates, renters' insurance and rent payments. Its Agent Tools feature supports holistic rental management for agents, from advertising and nurturing leads to seamlessly diversifying their client portfolio, as well as supporting their rental clients' transition to homeownership in due time. "We continuously strive to provide agents and brokers with the best technology solutions in the industry," said Michael Lucarelli, CEO and Co-Founder of RentSpree. "By combining our company's superior suite of tools with those of other industry leaders such as SentriLock is only logical. In this way, we can cater to and empower smart rental agents with just a few clicks in the most effective way possible." About SentriLock SentriLock, LLC, founded in 2002, is one of the most trusted lockbox and showing service solution providers in the real estate industry, and is the Official Lockbox Solution of the National Association of REALTORS®. The company's products serve more than 400,000 REALTORS®, and have powered more than 10 million home sales. SentriLock's primary mission is to provide its members with amazing customer experiences, reliable member-focused technology solutions, and superior service and support. For more information visit www.sentrilock.com. About RentSpree Los Angeles-based RentSpree is a provider of award-winning rental software that helps seamlessly connect real estate agents, owners, and renters to simplify and automate the entire rental process, from listing to lease. The all-in-one platform is known across all 50 states for its easy and secure interface and suite of rental tools, including tenant screening, rent payments, marketing and renter management. To date, RentSpree has partnered with more than 250 of the most influential MLSs, real estate associations and brokerages to serve over one million users in the U.S. RentSpree is ranked 625th on Inc. 5000's fastest-growing private companies in 2022. Visit http://www.rentspree.com for more information.

Apartments.com Announces New 'Listing of the Future'
Reimagined listings featured on America's #1 online rental network will empower renters with detailed, unit-by-unit listing information SAN DIEGO -- Today Apartments.com, the leading online rental network in the United States, announced the launch of its Listing of the Future, an innovative new approach to listing apartments. The Listing of the Future will debut at Apartmentalize 2022 in San Diego. Since the debut of online apartment listings, renters searching for apartments in large (200 unit+) buildings have had access only to building-wide information and photos, with the majority of listings showing photos and floorplans for sample units–not the exact unit a renter is considering. With the Listing of the Future, Apartments.com will become the first online rental network to offer customers the option of presenting detailed, unit-specific information for every single unit in the community, including photos, floorplans, walkthrough videos, 3D tours, the view from the unit, and more. The Listing of the Future was developed in direct response to consumer demand. In a recent survey of 45,000 renters, Apartments.com found that 94% of renters want unit-specific floorplans and availability, while 82% say the location of a unit within a building or community matters and 63% are interested in the unit's view. The Listing of the Future provides all of this information, eliminating time consuming back and forth between prospective renters and property managers and generating higher quality leads for each listing. "Since 2014, Apartments.com has been committed to providing renters with the highest-quality listing data and the best search experience," said Stuart Richens, Vice President, Product & Operations, Apartments.com. "The Listing of the Future is the most significant innovation in online apartment search since we launched the new Apartments.com 8 years ago, and we're thrilled to announce its launch and celebrate with the multifamily industry at Apartmentalize. We're confident that our new, detailed listings will help consumers make better leasing choices while providing property managers with higher-quality leads." Apartments.com piloted the Listing of the Future with several leading property management companies, and the new unit-level listings are live for a number of large properties in Minneapolis, Boston, and San Francisco. The Listing of the Future is now available for all Apartments.com clients. Visit ListingoftheFuture.com to view these listings and learn more. About CoStar Group, Inc. CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Ten-X provides a leading platform for conducting commercial real estate online auctions and negotiated bids. LoopNet is the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online. Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, Westside Rentals, AFTER55.com, CorporateHousing.com, ForRentUniversity.com and Apartamentos.com form the premier online apartment resource for renters seeking great apartment homes and provide property managers and owners a proven platform for marketing their properties. Homesnap is an industry-leading online and mobile software platform that provides user-friendly applications to optimize residential real estate agent workflow and reinforce the agent-client relationship. Homes.com offers real estate professionals advertising and marketing services for residential properties. Realla is the UK's most comprehensive commercial property digital marketplace. BureauxLocaux is one of the largest specialized property portals for buying and leasing commercial real estate in France. CoStar Group's websites attract tens of millions of unique monthly visitors. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar Group maintains offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. From time to time, we plan to utilize our corporate website, www.costargroup.com, as a channel of distribution for material company information. For more information, visit www.costargroup.com. About Apartments.com Apartments.com is the leading online apartment listing website, offering renters access to information on more than 1,000,000 available units for rent. Powered by CoStar, the Apartments.com network of sites includes Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, Apartamentos.com, WestsideRentals.com, ForRent.com, ForRentUniversity.com, After55.com and CorporateHousing.com. Apartments.com is supported by the industry's largest professional research team, which has visited and photographed over 500,000 properties nationwide. The team makes over one million calls each month to apartment owners and property managers, collecting and verifying current availabilities, rental rates, pet policies, fees, leasing incentives, concessions, and more. Apartments.com offers more rental listings than any other apartments website, and innovative features including a drawing tool that allows users to define their own search areas on a map, and a "Travel Time" feature that lets users search for rentals in proximity to a specific address. Apartments.com creates easy access to its listings through a responsive website and iOS and Android apps, and provides unmatched exposure for its advertisers through an intuitive name, strategic search engine placements and innovative emerging media. The Apartments.com network reaches millions of renters nationwide, driving both qualified traffic and highly engaged renters to leasing offices.

RentSpree Debuts Holistic Agent Tools to Streamline the Rental Process
Premier Tenant Screening Software Provider Expands Product Offerings to Support a Cohesive Rental Management for Real Estate Agents LOS ANGELES, April 14, 2022 -- RentSpree, the industry's premier end-to-end rental management software provider, today announced the release of its brand new Agent Tools solution suite. The product offering includes Rental Client Manager (RCM), Agent Profiles and Listings. These tools provide an all-in-one offering for real estate agents that supports holistic rental management, from advertising and nurturing leads to closing deals using PropTech. "The tools to thoughtfully and efficiently translate rental activity into future business have been absent in the often-overlooked rental segment," said RentSpree CEO Michael Lucarelli. "As a result, 87% of all new agents fail after five years since many lack the resources to succeed. Agent Tools was developed for new and experienced agents to be successful by enabling them to handle rentals professionally while providing value-add resources to clients over the long-term." The newly dedicated platform helps agents manage leads through these key features: Rental Client Manager — Rental Client Manager (RCM) leverages key milestones to help agents provide real estate guidance to clients. RCM automatically captures contacts from other RentSpree products, offers direct contact creation and supports CSV import, allowing agents of any experience level to supercharge their relationship management. Agent Profiles — Agent Profiles creates a personalized space for agents looking to boost their brand. Agents can use their profile to promote their experience, feature their expertise and market their listings. These detailed public profiles are designed to be discovered through search engines and shared directly to open the door for new business opportunities by capturing leads at all points of the rental lifecycle. Listings — With listing pages, RentSpree empowers agents to market their properties with a best-in-class user experience that leverages RentSpree's industry-leading tenant screening product. With several approved MLS partnerships and many more on the horizon, it has never been easier for agents to create beautiful, effective property marketing and seamlessly screen tenants. With these additions, RentSpree is equipping agents with the resources to streamline all rental processes for agents and generate new deals from existing leads. It also expands the brand's current offerings and ties back to its core competency of tenant screening. "Having a service that supports client organization and management is essential to an agent's success," said Monica Pena, CEO of GMAR. "The Agent Tools solution is one of the best tools out there for any agent reaching for that next level on their real estate journey." Agent Tools will be available to agents nationwide, but some of the most prominent partners of this platform include California Regional MLS, Lone Wolf Technologies, Bright MLS, First Multiple Listing Service, Realty ONE Group, Bridge MLS and Bridge Association of REALTORS. For more information on RentSpree, visit rentspree.com. About RentSpree Founded in 2016, RentSpree is an award-winning rental software known in all 50 states for its easy-to-use tenant screening process, renter management, partnership program and rental screening API. In just six years, RentSpree has grown its database by partnering with over 200 of the most trusted names in real estate and nearly a million agents, owners and renters across the country.

Recent Home Buyers Are Overwhelmingly Open to Renting Out Their Home, According to Realtor.com Survey
In the age of the sharing economy, younger homeowners see their home as a potential income stream and are open to having renters SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 23, 2021 -- In today's sharing economy, recent homebuyers are overwhelmingly open to using their home as a way to generate income and offset expenses. Realtor.com's latest survey found that while many owners are using traditional methods such as taking on a roommate, some are also employing more creative tactics when it comes to generating income from their home, such as renting out their outdoor space or parking spot. "As the next generation of home buyers has embraced ridesharing and short-term rentals, it's a natural next step that they begin to think of their biggest asset -- their home -- as a potential income stream," said George Ratiu, manager of economic research, Realtor.com®. "For people looking to take advantage of the sharing economy, in addition to traditional approaches it may be worthwhile to explore creative solutions, such as listing your home as a vacation rental when you leave town, or renting your outdoor space or pool. Even a small amount of income each month can multiply over a year or more and can turn into bigger returns. The survey of 3,026 consumers, which was conducted online by HarrisX in July 2021, found that: Sixty-nine percent of recent homebuyers would rent out part of their home if it had a separate entrance, kitchen and bathroom. Thirty-two percent of consumers have already rented out a room, space or outdoor feature of their property, most commonly taking on a long-term roommate (10%) or renting a room on a short-term basis such as on Airbnb (8%). Creative rental solutions that consumers have employed include: Renting outdoor spaces such as a parking spot (7%), or a yard/pool (6%). Six percent of those surveyed have rented their whole home while they were away and 7% have lived in a smaller unit on their property while renting out the main house. Consumers said that the biggest reason to rent out part or all of their home was: Extra income to save (53%), extra spending money (37%), to lessen the burden of general monthly expenses (35%), to offset major home expenses such as the mortgage (29%), and to cover a family vacation (16%). Rental preferences among homeowners include: Fifty-two percent of consumers would feel comfortable renting a part of their home that has its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom to someone they already knew, 30% would be comfortable as long as they could vet the renter and 29% would be comfortable with a renter that was vetted by a third-party, such as an app. A surprising 16% of people would rent a space to anyone if they really needed the money. Recent buyers were less picky about vetting, with 32% saying they would rent to someone they know and 23% being open to anyone. Among all respondents, long-term renters (24%) were preferred to medium-term (21%) or short-term renters (18%). "It is important to keep in mind that while today's sharing economy may make it sound easy to make rental income off of your home, there are many factors to consider before taking the leap. You should familiarize yourself with tenant rights in your state and locality, and understand any community restrictions. Along with those, making sure that renters have been properly vetted and that home insurance will cover any potential damage, are additional things to look into before inviting renters into your home," said Ratiu. Methodology: Realtor.com® commissioned HarrisX to conduct a national survey of consumers. The total sample size was 3,026 adults. The survey was carried out online from July 21-23, 2021. The sampling margin of error of this poll is ±1.8 percentage points. The figures represent a national view of U.S. adults. Results were weighted for age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, and income where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. About Realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, Realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, Realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit Realtor.com®.

Buying a Starter Home is More Affordable than Renting in Nearly Half of the Biggest U.S. Metros
The U.S. median rental price grew 9.8% year-over-year to $1,607 - 15.5% higher than monthly starter home payments in 24 of the 50 largest U.S. metros SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 26, 2021 -- As rents continue to hit new highs and mortgage rates remain low, buying a starter home now costs less per month than renting a similar-sized unit in 24 of the 50 largest U.S. metros, according to the Realtor.com® Monthly Rental Report released today. The top markets where it's more affordable to buy a starter home versus rent one include: Birmingham, Ala. (33.1% lower), St. Louis, Mo. (29.4% lower), Pittsburgh (27.7% lower), Orlando (25.9% lower) and Cleveland (25.7% lower). Nationally, rents continued rising at an unusually fast pace in July, up 9.8% over last year and 12.2% since 2019. All unit sizes tracked by Realtor.com® posted rent gains and hit new highs: Two-bedrooms at $1,802 (+10.9%), one-bedrooms at $1,495 (+9.5%) and studios at $1,315 (+5.6%). "Rents hit new highs in 40 of the 50 largest U.S. metros this July and grew at an almost double-digit pace – the fastest yearly rate we've seen in the last 18 months," said Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. "Sky-high rents and historically low interest rates have made the monthly cost to buy a starter home lower than renting one in nearly half the markets across the U.S. While this is good news for first-time buyers in these metros, there are plenty of other factors to consider when deciding whether to become a homeowner, including making sure it's the right time for you and your family. But if the monthly costs have been holding you back, data suggests it's worth exploring in many markets, and although it's still hard to find entry-level homes, we are seeing more smaller homes coming on the market." Hale added, many of July's highest rent gains were seen in secondary markets where rental demand has exploded during COVID, driven in part by remote work enabling employees to escape crowded, expensive big cities – at least temporarily. With the future of remote work uncertain for many Americans, first-time homebuyers saw less of a frenzy than renters in a number of July's highest-priced rental markets. This has helped keep monthly starter home costs an average 15.5% ($216) lower than rents in nearly half of the 50 largest U.S. metros. (See methodology below.) First-time homebuying is relatively more affordable in hot rental markets In the top 10 metros that favored first-time homebuying over renting in July, monthly starter home payments were an average 24.3% lower than rents, driven in part by lower median listing prices ($192,000) than the national average ($297,000). The types of starter homes for sale also play a key role in monthly payments, with active inventory in these buyer-friendly metros including nearly two times the share of single-family starter homes (56.1%) than in condo-heavy markets that favor renting. In July, the top 10 markets that favored buying over renting were: Birmingham, Ala. (33.1% lower), St. Louis, Mo. (29.4% lower), Pittsburgh (27.7% lower), Orlando (25.9% lower), Cleveland (25.7% lower), Tampa (22.9% lower), Baltimore (20.5% lower), Indianapolis (20.4% lower), Virginia Beach (19.2% lower) and Riverside, Calif. (18.5% lower). Many of these metros also posted sizeable rent gains over last year in July, led by Riverside (+29.7%), where the median rental price of $2,230 was 18.5% ($413) higher than starter home payments, at $1,817 per month. Even with the surge in prices, Riverside rents were relatively lower than in nearby Los Angeles ($2,742), making the metro an attractive option to big city renters looking to save during COVID. Compared to Los Angeles, first-time homebuyers in Riverside saw 51.5% lower asking prices and nearly three times the share of single-family starter homes, at 75.1% of entry-level inventory in July. Renting beats out buying in big tech cities with rents yet to recover from COVID Typically some of the nation's most expensive housing markets, big tech hubs largely favored renting over buying a starter home in July, partly attributed to higher condo HOA fees. Among 0-2 bedroom homes in these top 10 cities, over seven-in-ten (71%) were condos, on average, compared to 58% nationwide, while median HOA fees of $334 among homes that had this fee were 27% higher than the U.S. median ($263). Seven of the top 10 markets where monthly starter home costs were higher than rents are tech-heavy areas, including: Austin, at 79.2% higher; San Jose, at 47.5% higher; San Francisco, at 44.4% higher; Seattle, at 44.2% higher; Boston, at 40.9% higher; Los Angeles at 39.4% higher; and New York, at 32.0% higher. While rental prices have surpassed pre-COVID levels in the majority of U.S. markets, rents in many of the biggest tech cities have yet to catch up to historical peaks. Among the 50 largest U.S. markets, the only four where rents declined from last year in July were all big tech hubs: New York (-6.1%), Boston (-3.7%), San Francisco (-2.9%) and Chicago (-1.4%). Leading the list of metros that favor renting by a wide margin, at $1,228 higher monthly starter home costs than rents, Austin is currently one of the nation's most competitive housing markets. While costs like median HOA fees are relatively lower in Austin compared to other big tech cities, at $104 versus $1,222 in New York, first-time homebuyers are competing for limited affordable options, with 0-2 bedroom home inventory down 59% year-over-year and prices up 17.5% to a median $431,000 in July. "Emerging tech hubs like Austin have seen a surge in housing demand in recent years as more Silicon Valley companies have opened or expanded offices in these areas. Relocating employees, including many millennials, can see their housing dollars go much further, with rental costs roughly half as high as in San Francisco and San Jose and starter home costs more than a third lower. With growth expected to continue in Austin, there's a premium on real estate, but California transplants may find that relative affordability creates first-time homebuying opportunities," Hale said. Realtor.com®July 2021 Rental Data - Top 10 Markets that Favor Buying Over Renting Realtor.com®July 2021 Rental Data - Top 10 Markets that Favor Renting Over Buying Realtor.com®July 2021 Rental Data - 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas Methodology Rental data as of July 2021. Rental units include apartment communities as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). All units were studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom units. National rents were calculated by averaging the medians of the 50 largest metropolitan areas. The monthly cost of buying a home was calculated by averaging the median listing prices of studio, 1-bed, and 2-bed homes, weighted by the number of listings, in each housing market. Memphis for sale data was excluded while inventory data is under review. Monthly buying costs assume a 5% down payment, with a mortgage rate of 2.87%, and include taxes, insurance and HOA fees. Typical market-level monthly HOA fees were included in the overall monthly cost of buying, and the median was not conditional on the presence of an HOA fee. This means that the typical HOA fee included reflects both the fees themselves as well as the prevalence of HOA fees in the cost of local starter homes. All else equal, areas where more homes have HOA fees will reflect a higher HOA fee inclusion. About Realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, Realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, Realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit Realtor.com.

Realtor.com Survey Shows With Only Weeks Until School Starts, More Than a Third of College Students Still Haven't Finalized Fall 2021 Housing Plans
35% of college students say they cannot afford to rent an apartment in their college town SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 28, 2021 -- Thirty-five percent of college students headed to school this fall say they cannot afford to rent an apartment in their college town and 19% say their parents are helping them pay rent this year when they didn't need help last year, according to a new Realtor.com® survey released today. When asked what's impacting their struggles, 44% blame the overall real estate market in their college town. "The shortage of affordable housing inventory in the U.S. pushed prices to record-highs and forced more prospective homebuyers into the rental market in June, driving the U.S. median rent price to a new high of $1,575, an 8.1% increase year-over-year," said Realtor.com® Economist George Ratiu. "In addition, many university towns have become attractive destinations for retirees and remote workers, further adding pressure on local real estate markets. With the uncertainty brought about by COVID compounding the rising prices and lower inventory, students are facing a more challenging housing market in their college towns than ever before." Danny (21), a college student in Illinois said, "The rent is incredibly high from where we are and they know they'll get away with it because they know we'll pay it… we're literally in a cornfield in the middle of Illinois. There's no reason that there needs to be rent this high." While finances are playing a significant role in housing plans for this year, so is timing. Thirty percent of students delayed confirming fall 2021 housing due to a lack of certainty about their school holding in-person classes. Those delays have had a ripple effect with 34% of college students not having finalized their housing for fall and 22% of those students saying they waited too long to secure on-campus housing and now it's full, forcing them to change their plan. Despite the challenges, students are eager to get back to school. Half of those who lived at home last year are planning to move out for the fall, but they're really having to pound the pavement to find the right fit. Nearly 40% of those planning to live off-campus and away from home said they looked at 6 or more listings in person while searching for a place to live and over 30% said finding an apartment this year was much harder than last year. Nearly a quarter said the places they looked at rented very fast because there was so much competition. "With speed a necessity for searchers in the fast-paced market, tailoring your home or rental search to listings close to campus will help keep you focused," said Realtor.com® housing and lifestyle expert, Lexie Holbert. "Our school search filter lets you search listings around schools of all levels, including universities, to find rentals and for-sale properties near campus. It also lets you save the search and set an alert, so you'll know when something matching your search criteria hits the market." "There's multiple people going for the same house and it's super competitive, almost to the point where people will gatekeep their agents' information," said Kayla (19), a college student in Eugene, Ore. "We've been looking since a little bit before Thanksgiving of 2020. We looked probably until mid April. We were waking up literally every morning and searching... and then just go back in later in the afternoon and check again," said Owen (19), a college student in Bozeman, MT. Financial challenges aren't just impacting students' ability to find housing but how students will live this year too. Fifty-one percent of students say they have adjusted their living situation in order to save money with 21% moving home to save money, 13% taking on more roommates and 10% choosing to live in lower quality accommodations to save money. Methodology: Realtor.com® commissioned JUV to conduct a national survey of students planning to attend college in the fall of 2021. This survey was conducted online within the United States from July 12 - July 17, 2021. The survey was conducted among 501 young adults who are current college students or recent graduates by JUV Consulting. The sampling margin of error of this poll is 4%. About Realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, Realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, Realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit Realtor.com®.

Now May Be the Best Time to Save Thousands on a Lease in the Nation's Largest Tech Hubs, According to Realtor.com Rental Report
In San Jose, Calf., renters signing a 12-month lease today would save nearly $5,000 compared to pre-pandemic prices SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 16, 2021 -- Rents continued their downward spiral in many of the nation's largest housing markets in February, but they may have hit their bottom, according to the realtor.com Monthly Rental Report released today. For those looking to move or return to the big city, acting now while rents are still at their lowest could mean saving thousands of dollars a year. "Housing markets like San Francisco, Santa Clara, Calif., Boston and Seattle have seen rents decline by double digits since the start of the pandemic and rent growth across the nation remains lower than pre-COVID levels. However, the downward trend is leveling off and rents may have hit their bottom in many markets," said realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. "With the COVID-19 vaccination rates improving, returning to work and the city may be on the minds of many. For those looking to capitalize on rock-bottom rents, finding a new unit now could make sense. You'll not only save money, you'll have less competition finding the location that's best for you." In February, the U.S. median rent, which is calculated by averaging the median rent of the 50 largest metros, was up 0.6% to $1,452, well below its pre-COVID growth rate of 3.2%. With rent growth stabilizing over the past three months, rents could begin to return to pre-COVID growth rates in the coming months. Rent savings in tech markets could add up to thousands of dollars Although rents have begun to stabilize, and even rise by double-digits in some markets like New Orleans, Sacramento, Calif., Memphis and Riverside, Calif., where rents rose 18.7%, 11.0% 10.8% and 10.7%, respectively in February, that's not the case in many of the nation's largest tech hubs. In San Jose, Calif., situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, median rent was $2,690 in February, 13.2%, or $410, less than a year earlier. Renters signing a 12-month lease today would save nearly $5,000, compared to pre-pandemic prices for the same unit. They'd save almost as much in neighboring San Francisco, where rents were down nearly 13% from a year ago in February. Tech hub markets - Typical savings versus last year's rents February 2021 rental data - 50 largest metropolitan areas Methodology Rental units include apartment communities as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). All units were studio, one-bedroom, or two-bedroom units. National rents were calculated by averaging the medians of the 50 largest metropolitan areas. About realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.

Rental Beast and eCommission Announce Partnership to Offer Flexible Payment Option
This partnership will allow real estate agents the option to purchase a Rental Beast subscription using future commissions. SOMERVILLE, MA, 9 February 2021 -- Today, Rental Beast, the only fully integrated SaaS platform in the real estate market with a comprehensive listing database of nearly 9 million rentals nationwide, announced its partnership with eCommission to launch a new, innovative payment option called Access. Access will offer real estate agents the flexibility to purchase a Rental Beast subscription using future commissions as an alternative to cash or credit. Easy to use, convenient, and free for 90-days, Access allows agents to take control of their cash flow and keep growing their businesses. Agents can purchase a full year or two-year subscription using Access and gain immediate access to Rental Beast's suite of premium tools, paying for their subscription only after earning a commission. This partnership advances Rental Beast's goal of simplifying the rental market and helping real estate agents build a sustainable business with rentals. "We're absolutely thrilled to offer Access as a payment option for Rental Beast subscribers," said Ishay Grinberg, founder and CEO of Rental Beast. "In this difficult environment, real estate agents need tools to thrive, including flexible payment options. We believe this is especially game-changing for new agents, who can immediately access a tool that can greatly increase their earnings. We're so excited to make it easier for agents to build Rental Beast into their businesses." "Access gives agents the flexibility to invest in their businesses today without having to immediately come out of pocket," said Sean Whaling, eCommission Founder and CEO. "We are thrilled to offer our Buy Now, Pay Later solution to Rental Beast subscribers as a superior alternative to credit cards." Together, the two companies will increase the accessibility of crucial tools for real estate agents to monetize rentals, and, effective on February 10th, Access will be an available payment option for Rental Beast. Throughout 2021, Rental Beast plans to continue to expand and develop more tools to help real estate agents grow their businesses. About Rental Beast Rental Beast is an end-to-end SaaS platform empowering real estate professionals with powerful productivity tools and the nation's most comprehensive database of nearly nine million off-MLS rental properties. Sourced directly from property owners, updated in real time, and offering a fulfillment-grade rental dataset, the Rental Beast database provides real estate professionals with an unparalleled view of all properties and owner types. About eCommission and Access™ eCommission is the company that operates Access. eCommission is the leading provider of working capital to real estate professionals since 1999, with more than $1.4 billion of commissions funded to satisfied customers nationwide. eCommission is a nationally endorsed alliance partner to the industry's largest real estate brands, independent brokerages, and technology companies. More information about eCommission and Access™ can be found at http://www.eCommission.com and http://www.buynowpayatclosing.com

Realtor.com Acquires Avail
Online property management platform streamlines rental process for DIY landlords and tenants; acquisition advances realtor.com®'s rentals strategy SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 15, 2020 -- Move, Inc., the operator of realtor.com®, a leading online destination for real estate services, announced today it has acquired Chicago-based Avail, a platform that improves the renting experience for do-it-yourself landlords and tenants with online tools, educational content, and world-class support. Move, Inc. is a subsidiary of News Corp. Residential rentals comprise a large market in the U.S.; according to an analysis of American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau, people spend more than $500 billion per year on rent in this country, and DIY landlords (landlords with 1-20 units, often in addition to a full-time job) own and manage about three quarters of all the rentals in the U.S. The acquisition helps realtor.com® further expand into the rental space, extend its support for landlords, augment current rental listing content, grow its audience and build brand affinity and long-term relationships with renters. The Avail online and mobile platform brings together the workflow tools that help independent landlords manage rental properties more easily and efficiently, almost all of which are free; more than 90 percent of landlords use the Avail free product, while some landlords upgrade for premium functionality and customizations. Landlords use the Avail platform to create and market rental listings, screen applicants, access state- and city-specific lease agreements, process payments and track maintenance requests. The platform also offers tools for renters, including easy ways to complete rental applications, sign leases, pay rent, submit maintenance requests and access related products and services like renters insurance. "This acquisition is a key part of our strategy to make finding a home easier and more rewarding," said David Doctorow, CEO of realtor.com®. "We believe that Avail is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of the DIY landlords and tenants in a large, growing and underserved market. By combining Avail's rentals listing content and easy-to-use tools with realtor.com®'s large audience, consumer experience platform and insights, we believe we can deliver more value to DIY landlords and tenants. I'm excited about what the tremendous team at Avail will add to the talented staff here at realtor.com®." Avail is experiencing incredible growth in the market despite the Coronavirus pandemic, as more landlords move their rental businesses online and consumers look for contactless rental opportunities, especially with online rent payments. "We are excited about joining the team at realtor.com®, and see this acquisition as a tremendous opportunity for our customers," said Avail CEO Ryan Coon. "Leveraging realtor.com®'s industry expertise and scale will allow us to expand our platform capabilities and offerings so we can continue to deliver high-quality services, tools and education to even more landlords and tenants." Coon, Avail co-founder Laurence Jankelow and the company's 30+ person team will join Move, Inc. Terms of the acquisition were not made public. About realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com. About Move, Inc. Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV], operates a family of websites and mobile experiences for consumers and professionals, including realtor.com®. Move also offers software products and services to help real estate professionals serve their clients and grow their business, including ListHub™, the nation's leading listings syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the real estate industry; and Top Producer® Systems. About Avail Founded in 2012, Avail is the first and only online platform for independent landlords and tenants that provides the tools, education, and support to make renting easy. Landlords across the U.S. use Avail to advertise vacant units, request rental applications and credit reports, sign leases, and collect rent — all online. Learn more at www.avail.co.

Rent Declines Accelerate in Tech Hubs as Remote Work Prompts the Desire for More Space
Rents continue their downward spiral throughout the San Francisco Bay Area along with Manhattan, Boston, Seattle and Washington, D.C. SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 13, 2020 -- Rents in the nation's tech hubs continued their descent in October, falling by one-third for a studio apartment in San Francisco year-over-year, according to the realtor.com monthly rental report released today. The report also showed that while the declines have begun to slow down nationally, renters are seeking both affordability and more space the longer they work from home. Nationally, rental growth rates are still far below where they were pre-COVID, but declines are starting to lessen. The median studio unit rent in October was $1,316, down 0.8% year-over-year. The median one-bedroom rent in October was $1,495, up 1.1% year-over-year. The median two-bedroom rent continued to increase in October. At $1,869, it was up 2.6% year-over-year, approaching its pre-COVID annual growth rate of 3.5%. "The combination of tech companies extending their work from home policies through mid-2021 or even indefinitely, and the desire for more space, especially with the weather cooling, is putting pressure on rents in the most expensive urban metros and tech hubs," said realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale®. "Just as we saw with buyers, many renters appear to be looking to escape their urban life altogether, while others are looking for more space. Nationwide, rents for two-bedroom units have begun to bounce back and if the trend continues, price growth could return to pre-COVID levels early next year." San Francisco led the nation in declines with monthly rents falling 33.3%, 26.3% and 23.4% for studio, one-bedroom and two-bedrooms units year-over-year, respectively. Rents for studios and one-bedrooms in nearby Santa Clara and San Mateo counties also saw double-digit decreases in October. Outside of the Bay Area, Manhattan, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. were among the metros seeing the largest year-over-year declines. These markets also represent some of the most expensive cities in the country, giving rents the most room to fall. In October, the median studio rent in Manhattan was $2,395, down 20.0% year-over-year, accelerating from 15.4% a month earlier. One-bedroom rents in Manhattan were $3,250, down 16.7% compared to last year, and accelerating from a decrease of 11.7% in September. Two-bedroom rents in Manhattan were $5,333 in October, down 11.1% compared to last year, accelerating from a 4.1% decline a month earlier. Top 10 markets with largest one-bedroom rent decreases in October Top 10 markets with largest two-bedroom rent decreases in October Methodology: Rental units include apartment communities as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). National rents were calculated by averaging the medians of the 100 largest counties, except for studios, which were based on 94 of those counties with at least 20 studio listings. About realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.

Urban Rental Markets Show Signs of Cooling
Rental Inquiries drop dramatically in most surveyed markets August 18, 2020 -- Rental Beast is a SaaS platform that simplifies the leasing process with an end-to-end platform and maintains a highly-accurate updated database of over eight million off-MLS rental properties. With active listings in 17 markets across the United States, and 10 additional markets opening within the next 60 days, Rental Beast's Data Services Group tracks various rental trends in its markets across the nation. Renters typically intensify apartment searches during summer months, and landlords expect an increase in showings and price hikes as demand soars. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Rental Beast's July 2020 data reflects a cooling in the rental market. In this report, we evaluate exclusive data from five major U.S. cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, and Philadelphia. We track year-over-year (YOY) changes in Rental Inquiries and Rental Concessions in each city to gain a picture of market conditions. Rental Inquiries Rental Inquiries are prospective tenants actively seeking to rent an available property in our database. Rental Inquiry volume typically follows a predictable seasonal pattern—Rental Beast data from previous years show a high volume of Rental Inquiries during the summer months, as renters hoping to move in the fall begin their apartment search. Departures from such patterns serve as powerful, quantifiable early indicators of a shift in the rental marketplace, and are more powerful predictors of future transactional activity than traditional rental information, such as average rent. Rental Beast monitors all inquiries to available listings on the Rental Beast website and listings syndicated to our partner sites including Facebook Marketplace and Realtor.com. In July, Rental Inquiries were down YOY in four out of five markets surveyed. Boston, Miami, Atlanta, and Philadelphia all recorded significant YOY declines, and Chicago registered the only YOY increase: July represents the seventh consecutive month that Boston and Miami reported negative YOY Rental Inquiry rates—down 74% and 72%, respectively. As COVID-19 continues to force more people to work from home and reconsider their professional and personal priorities, city-center living becomes increasingly unappealing to renters. In July, Atlanta reported a 50% decline, continuing the city's nearly year-long trend of negative YOY Rental Inquiries. Industry leader, JP & Associates REALTORS® recently opened a string of fast-growing brokerages in the Atlanta area. Owner and Managing Partner of JP & Associates REALTORS® Metro Atlanta, Christopher Schlitz—a real estate veteran, having launched his career in Atlanta in 1991—commented on recent Rental Inquiry trends. Schlitz suggests that a recent spike in interest for large suburban homes from Atlanta-based apartment renters likely drove the year-to-date decrease in Rental Inquiries for Atlanta. Philadelphia registered a YOY drop of 5.7% in July. This decline marks the end of Philadelphia's upward trending Rental Inquiries. For a third consecutive month, Chicago registered positive YOY Rental Inquiries—a 5.6% YOY gain for July. In reaction to Chicago's July Rental Inquiry data, Kenneth Hawkins, Rental Beast's General Manager for the firm's Chicago Office, explains, "So many people expected the pandemic to be over with by now. Chicagoans are anxious to get back to some sort of normalcy and contemplating new living arrangements is part of that process." Hawkins continues, "While some renters plan to relocate out of the city, others are pursuing different living options within city limits." Rental Concessions Rental Concessions are compromises landlords make to original rent terms in the hope of filling a vacancy more quickly. Rental Concessions can include monetary compensation, a discount, or various goods and services. For July, Rental Concessions dropped in Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, and Atlanta. Only Boston registered a YOY increase: Despite continued uncertainty surrounding rent moratoriums and the efficacy of supplemental unemployment benefits, landlords slowed the pace of Rental Concessions. July saw the following YOY declines: Chicago (-90%), Philadelphia (-86%), Miami (-83%), and Atlanta (-44%). In the months directly following increased lockdown orders—March, April, and May—many cities recorded double and triple-digit YOY increases in Rental Concessions. July's declines may reflect a temporary reprieve rather than a permanent reversal of this trend. Rental Beast's Hawkins suggests, "Many of the landlords who have consistently offered Rental Concessions since the pandemic's onset have now reached a point where they can no longer afford to do so without putting their property investments in jeopardy." Schlitz suggests that Atlanta's decline in Rental Concessions may be attributed to the pressure on families to finalize their living arrangements in advance of Atlanta schools' August 12th opening date. Due to this urgency to secure a new home, property owners are less incentivized to offer Rental Concessions. JP & Associates continues to monitor trends as the group expands rapidly in the Georgia and Florida area. For the fifth month in a row, Boston landlords utilized Rental Concessions to minimize vacancies. In July, Boston reported a 28% YOY increase in Rental Concessions, down from a 105% YOY increase in June. Throughout the month of July, many Boston landlords have been preparing properties for student move-ins under strict and expensive cleaning protocols and adjusting amenities to a new reality for student housing. During the summer months, many Boston-based colleges and universities announced plans to hold exclusively, or majority, online classes. While Boston can anticipate fewer students relocating to attend school, it is likely that a decrease in overall rental demand will be partially offset as on campus dorms de-densify. In response to these developments, Ishay Grinberg, Rental Beast's founder and CEO, says, "COVID-19 is a healthcare crisis that impacts every aspect of people's lives. As uncertainty continues, landlords are forced to make difficult choices with potentially long-term financial consequences. By continuing to offer Rental Concessions, property owners are clearly opting for a short-term but prudent loss in order to protect their property assets." About Rental Beast Rental Beast is a SaaS platform dedicated to simplifying every part of the leasing processes for real estate agents, landlords, and tenants. Rental Beast offers its users exclusive access to the nation's most comprehensive and accurate rental database, powerful communication and marketing tools to acquire and retain clients, and a secure and fast online application engine. We tackle the notoriously challenging leasing market and help landlords and agents build lasting relationships with many American renters.

Cherre and Rental Beast Announce Partnership to Integrate National Rental Listings into Real Estate Data Platform
NEW YORK, July 21, 2020 -- Cherre, the NYC-based real estate data and analytics platform, today announced a new data partnership with Rental Beast, the only fully integrated SaaS platform in the real estate market with a comprehensive listing database of over eight million rentals nationwide. By joining Cherre's growing Data Partner Network, mutual customers will be able to easily incorporate rental listing data into Cherre's platform for a comprehensive view of markets and properties under consideration. Rental Beast is a SaaS platform that simplifies the rental market and empowers brokerages and agents with powerful productivity tools and the nation's most comprehensive rental database. By offering real estate professionals access to more than eight million off-MLS rental properties, Rental Beast is the source of truth for rental market data. "Rental Beast seeks to bring unparalleled transparency to the rental market, and we're very excited to join forces with Cherre to provide businesses with the most accurate, comprehensive housing data available," said Ishay Grinberg, founder and CEO of Rental Beast. "Together, Rental Beast and Cherre allow businesses to get the full picture of the market—from individual homes, to mom-and-pop rentals and multifamily properties. We believe this partnership will offer tremendous value to all data consumers." Cherre, the leader in real estate data and insight, connects decision makers to accurate property and market information, helping them make faster, smarter decisions. With Cherre, customers can evaluate opportunities and trends faster and more accurately, while saving millions of dollars in manual data collection and analytics costs. "Rental listings are an important aspect of overall housing data," said L.D. Salmanson, CEO and Co-Founder of Cherre. "By partnering with Rental Beast, mutual customers will be able to easily analyze rental data alongside other key datasets to evaluate markets and properties, and to make more strategic decisions." About Rental Beast Rental Beast is an end-to-end SaaS platform empowering real estate professionals with powerful productivity tools and the nation's most comprehensive database of over eight million off-MLS rental properties. Sourced directly from property owners, updated in real time, and offering a fulfillment-grade rental dataset, the Rental Beast database provides real estate professionals with an unparalleled view of all properties and owner types. About Cherre Cherre is the leader in real estate data and insight. We connect decision makers to accurate property and market information, and help them make faster, smarter decisions. By providing a unique "single source of truth," Cherre empowers customers to evaluate opportunities and trends faster and more accurately, while saving millions of dollars in manual data collection and analytics costs. Cherre launched in 2016 and is located in New York City.

The Gap Between Buying and Renting Narrows Nationwide
Purchasing a home still more expensive in majority of larger metros SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 29, 2020 -- After years of skyrocketing home prices, the combination of rising rents, lower mortgage rates and moderating home prices are making purchasing a home more attractive in many of the nation's largest metros, according to realtor.com's quarterly Rent vs. Buy report released today. The report, which analyzed the cost of buying versus renting in 593 counties across the U.S., in the fourth quarter of 2019, found that it was cheaper to buy than rent in 16 percent of the counties with populations of 100,000 or more, up from 12 percent a year earlier. Despite homeownership becoming more affordable, it is still cheaper to rent than buy in 84 percent of the nation's largest counties, including New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. "The move toward a more balanced equation is good news for home sellers during this spring home buying season as more people, especially the large cohort of millennials who turn 30 this year, begin to weigh the cost of buying versus renting," said realtor.com® Senior Economist George Ratiu. "Due to a combination of factors, we saw the monthly cost to buy a home fall 1 percent year-over-year, while rents increased 4 percent during the same time frame." The monthly cost to buy the national median-priced home was approximately $1,600, or 30 percent of the national median household income, in the fourth quarter of 2019, in line with the budgeting rule of spending no more than 30 percent of gross income on housing costs. The cost to rent increased to $1,319, representing 25 percent of the median household income in the fourth quarter of 2019. Over the past year, 26 of the 593 counties analyzed shifted from being more affordable to rent to being more affordable to buy, including in the Cleveland, Bronx County, N.Y., Indianapolis and Columbia, S.C, areas. Although it is still cheaper to rent than buy, some of the nation's most expensive housing markets, including Kings and New York counties in N.Y., along with Santa Cruz County, Calif., saw the gap between renting and buying decrease the most: by 24 percent, 20 percent, and 18 percent, respectively. Counties Where Buying is More Attractive The median listing prices in the counties where buying a home was more affordable were on average 53 percent lower than the national median listing price of $300,000. Median rents, while still less expensive, were only 11 percent cheaper on average. Counties Where Renting is More Attractive The median listing prices in the counties where renting is more affordable, were on average 260 percent higher than the national median of $300,000. Median rents, while also more expensive, were only 79 percent more expensive on average. Notes on Methodology *Purchase and rent costs reflect current costs and do not take into account holding period, price and rent appreciation, and inflation. Purchase costs do include taxes and insurance and are calculated based on realtor.com county-level residential listing price data and mortgage rate data for December 2019. Rental prices are from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data for 2019 50th-percentile rent estimates. Household income data and home-ownership data are from Census Housing Vacancies and Home-ownership data and 2019 Claritas estimates are based on Census data. Only counties with populations of 100,000 or greater are included in the top lists in this analysis. About realtor.com® Realtor.com® makes buying, selling and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, realtor.com® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, realtor.com® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com.

Homesnap Introduces Integration with Facebook Marketplace
Homesnap has integrated with Facebook Marketplace to make it easier to promote single-family homes for rent, and to give prospective renters more search options. Facebook Marketplace is already known as an easy, convenient way to buy and sell locally. With more than 1 in 3 people on Facebook in the US using Marketplace each month, people can find what they're looking for with just a few clicks. Marketplace's extensive reach has given Homesnap the ability to tap into a targeted and relevant user base with superb lead generation potential. Every lead generated goes directly to the listing agent or broker via email, free of charge. By integrating with leading house and apartment rental sites, Marketplace has made it easier for agents and property managers to list rental inventory on Marketplace, and for renters to find their next great home. Marketplace charges no listing fees or commissions, and its mobile-optimized interface and personalized customer experience ensure that property owners, managers, and agents can create tailored, browseable listings with minimal effort and investment. Renters are able to easily search listings to find exactly what they're looking for using filters such as location, housing type, price, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, pet friendliness. With Messenger/chat integration built in, questions can be answered in real time and potential leads fielded and converted quickly. "Our integration with Facebook Marketplace has garnered a ton of interest from renters who typically spend their time searching for a new home among more traditional, multifamily properties," said Lou Mintzer, Homesnap's Chief Product Officer. "We're hearing regularly from our MLS partners that not only do these placements on Marketplace generate lots of new business for rental agents, but they are also encouraging agents to list rental properties with their MLS, whereas before they might have withheld rentals simply because they didn't think they would generate much interest." In the past three months alone, approximately 100,000 leads have been generated from their listings. Facebook Marketplace represents a unique opportunity for MLSs, brokers, and agents to reach renters who may not be working with an agent and/or have access to MLS data. Since launch, MLSs that have opted into Facebook Marketplace through Homesnap have seen, on average, a 9.8 times increase in free leads and 4.3 times increase in views for rentals. Homesnap's integration with Marketplace has been both seamless and scalable, and Marketplace's extensive reach has given Homesnap the ability to tap into a targeted and relevant user base with tremendous lead generation potential. MLSs, brokers, and agents interested in promoting their rental properties on Facebook Marketplace should send inquiries to [email protected]. To view the original post, visit the Homesnap blog.

Leading iBuyers Selling Nearly One in 10 Homes to Institutional Investors According to New ATTOM Data Solutions Analysis
Top Three Buying Entities Related to Companies Purchasing Single Family Homes as Rentals IRVINE, Calif. — Nov. 29, 2018 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation's premier property database, today released an analysis that shows that nearly one in 10 homes sold so far in 2018 by the nation's two leading iBuyers — Opendoor and Offerpad — were purchased by institutional investor entities buying at least 10 homes. According to the analysis, a total of 743 homes sold by the two iBuyers — companies that buy directly from homeowners via all-cash offers — were purchased by institutional investors so far in 2018, representing 9.6 percent of all sales by those two iBuyers combined. That is up from 293 institutional investor purchases representing 6.6 percent of the iBuyer sales in 2017, and 65 institutional investor purchases representing 3.9 percent of the iBuyer sales in 2016. "Tight inventory is a common challenge facing both individual and institutional single family rental investors across the country," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. "Meanwhile the appetite for more SFR inventory continues to grow as a new wave of institutional capital builds. Industry innovators are rising to meet this challenge through a variety of inventory-inducing channels, including off-market, build-to-rent, and iBuyer initiatives." Top Three Buying Entities The top three institutional buying entities — CERBERUS SFR HOLDINGS LP, CSH PROPERTY ONE LLC, and TAH HOLDING LP — all appear to be related to companies purchasing single family homes as rentals. These institutional investors may be turning to iBuyers as a source of inventory even as other sources of inventory such as foreclosures have largely dried up in recent years. Institutional investor purchases represented just 2.3 percent of all U.S. home sales so far in 2018, down from 2.9 percent in 2017 and down from a peak of 7.4 percent in 2012, according to the ATTOM analysis. "There are a lot of buyers, both big and small, looking to grow their SFR portfolios and inventory is very tight. This is leading to creative ways to find new product — from build-to-rent programs, off-market inventory programs and iBuyer initiatives," said Kevin Ortner, CEO with Renters Warehouse, a company that manages more than 22,000 SFR properties in 42 states. "There are several firms positioning themselves to be able to help bring supply to meet the demands of investors, and I expect that will continue to grow. I'm also seeing investment in technology and data across the space allowing greater scale, efficiencies and insights." "A properly priced rental home today, there is almost limitless demand for it," said Gary Beasley, CEO and co-founder with Roofstock, an online marketplace for SFR properties that itself is working on ways to create SFR inventory for both retail buyers and institutional buyers. "We have to get creative about how to attract this inventory, and if it isn't available to create it." Methodology ATTOM Data Solutions analyzed public record sales deed data from its nationwide property data warehouse for sales by entities associated with Opendoor and Offerpad, broken down by purchase entity. Purchase entities that bought at least 10 homes from the two iBuyers combined were considered institutional investors. For overall home sales, ATTOM considered any entity buying 10 or more properties in a calendar year as an institutional buyer. About ATTOM Data Solutions ATTOM Data Solutions provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation's population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes and enhances the data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 9TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, APIs, market trends, marketing lists, match & append and more.

Apartments.com and realtor.com Enter into Content Syndication Partnership
Partnership is expected to bring millions of additional potential renters to Apartments.com's immense audience WASHINGTON, June 14, 2018 -- CoStar Group, Inc., owner of Apartments.com, today announced an exclusive partnership with realtor.com® operator Move, Inc. to power the apartment rental listings on Move's websites: realtor.com and Doorsteps.com. Apartment communities advertised on Apartments.com will be displayed on the Move network, generating exposure to millions of additional potential renters. Apartments.com advertisers are expected to save more time and further maximize the impact of their advertising dollars. Apartments listed and advertised on Apartments.com will automatically appear on realtor.com®, ForRent.com, ApartmentFinder.com, WestsideRentals.com, Apartamentos.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, and Doorsteps.com. "We believe that with this important new partnership, Apartments.com advertisers will see more leads, leases and better value for their advertising dollars," said Andrew Florance, CoStar Group Chief Executive Officer. "This is great for all of the participants in the marketplace as it increases the likelihood of creating successful connections. Everybody wins." The Apartments.com network is number one in consumer engagement and is the industry's most heavily trafficked apartment rental network, with more websites, listings and original content for renters than any other network. Mr. Florance continued, "We have invested over $1 billion in our multifamily offerings and we are committed to delivering the best results for all of our audiences, whether they are advertisers, consumers, property managers, investors or lenders." Offering the most comprehensive source of for-sale MLS-listed properties, realtor.com® is a leading online real estate destination for home buyers, sellers, renters and dreamers, attracting more than 60 million unique users a month. Doorsteps.com is a leading destination for local rental listings, homebuyer education and tools for real estate professionals. "The entire community benefits from this partnership providing users access to an unsurpassed selection of apartment listings with the high-quality content from Apartments.com," said Ryan O'Hara, Chief Executive Officer of Move. "At realtor.com®, we always work to ensure that we have the widest selection of listings in any category." This new partnership terminates realtor.com's partnership with Apartment List. Apartment List listings will be removed from realtor.com® by Sept. 1, 2018. About CoStar Group, Inc. CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) is the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. LoopNet is the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online with over 5 million monthly unique visitors per month. Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, Westside Rentals, AFTER55.com, CorporateHousing.com, ForRentUniversity.com and Apartamentos.com form the premier online apartment resource for renters seeking great apartment homes and provide property managers and owners a proven platform for marketing their properties. CoStar Group's websites attracted an average of approximately 38 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate in the first quarter of 2018. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe and Canada with a staff of over 4,100 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit www.costargroup.com. About Move, Inc. Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV], provides access to unsurpassed real estate information, tools and professional expertise across a family of websites and mobile experiences for consumers and real estate professionals through all stages of the home journey. It has a perpetual license to operate realtor.com from the National Association of REALTORS®.

Rising Rents Push Millennials to Become Homeowners
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 30, 2018 -- This year, the typical spring buyer is on the hunt for a three bedroom, two bathroom home with a garage and up-to-date kitchen, according to a new survey released today from realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination. The survey also revealed family needs and rising rents are motivating millennials to get into the market, while 55+ buyers are looking for privacy and comfort in their new home. "Although record-low inventory and high prices make this housing market unique, some classic features still top most shoppers' wish lists," said Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com®. "At the same time, we found some clear differences in priorities. For instance, older buyers are concerned with privacy and being able to age comfortably, while millennials place more emphasis on family needs, stability, and personal expression." Based on online survey of more than 1,000 active buyers conducted in early March by Toluna Research, the survey provides insight into both the most sought after homes as well as the motivations underpinning what shoppers are looking for. Majority of buyers want space, multiple bathrooms, and a garage The survey found many commonalities among homebuyers of all ages. In fact, 44 percent of all respondents said they are looking for a three-bedroom home and 93 percent of respondents want at least two bathrooms. Additionally, 27 percent of all buyers rate a garage as one of the most important home features, ahead of an updated kitchen, 24 percent, and open floor plan, 20 percent. Older Buyers Want Privacy and Comfort; Millennials Favor Family and Self-Expression According to the survey, more than 20 percent of buyers 55 years and older said that privacy – having a space solely of their own – was their main goal for purchasing a home. That was followed by their motivation for physical comforts at 18 percent and stability, at 15 percent. By contrast, family needs took precedence for younger buyers. Fulfilling family needs took the top spot for millennial buyers, at 17 percent, followed by stability at 14 percent and personal expression at 13 percent. Only 12 percent of buyers younger than 55 cited privacy as their chief priority. Only 9 percent of 35- to 54-year-old buyers and 6 percent of 55+ cited personal expression as a main goal for purchasing a home. For Millennials, the Rent is Too High Twenty-three percent of buyers between 18 and 34 years old reported rising rent as a trigger for their desire to purchase a home – more than any other option. This corresponds with steep increases in rents across the country in recent years, especially in many high-cost urban areas that have become magnets for millennials. HUD data shows that rents were up in 85 of the top 100 metro areas, including 9 metros where rents were up by double-digit percent from a year ago. Millennials Like Contemporary and Colonial Homes; Older Buyers Prefer Ranches Among millennials who expressed a home-style preference – 11 percent didn't – contemporary and colonial homes took the top spots, each favored by 10 percent of respondents. On the other hand, ranches are the most popular home style for buyers 55 and older, favored by 28 percent, followed distantly by contemporary homes at 12 percent. Only 6 percent of millennials favor ranch homes. For the full results, please click here. Information about realtor.com®'s 2017 home buyer preference survey is available here. About realtor.com® Realtor.com® is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers, offering the most comprehensive source of for-sale properties, among competing national sites, and the information, tools and professional expertise to help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.

Apartment List to Power Apartment Community Listings on Realtor.com
Relationship Leverages Fastest-Growing Apartment Rental Marketplace to Provide Renters with Customized Experience SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 6, 2017 -- Move, Inc., operator of realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination, today announced that it has selected Apartment List, the fastest-growing apartment rental marketplace, to exclusively power the apartment community listings on its realtor.com® and Doorsteps.com websites. The Apartment List platform will complement realtor.com®'s rich rental listings content derived from relationships with agents, brokers, landlords and residential property managers nationwide. Apartment List hosts five million visits each month in over 40 cities nationwide. "At realtor.com, our mission is to make the home journey simple, efficient and enjoyable. As we evaluated potential rental partners, Apartment List stood out among a crowded field of competitors," said Ryan O'Hara, chief executive officer of Move, Inc. "Apartment List is changing how people search for apartments by offering a highly customized experience that is built on renters' personal priorities. It's this type of innovation that aligns with our philosophy and makes Apartment List the right rentals partner for the experience we are striving to deliver across our platforms." As housing prices continue to increase, the rental market is often the first place people look for a home. Realtor.com® and Doorsteps.com attract more than 5 million unique visitors each month in search of rental opportunities, resulting in 120 million monthly page views. "We are thrilled to be selected as realtor.com's exclusive partner for apartment community listings, bringing more than 3.5 million rental units to their substantial audience," said John Kobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apartment List. "Through this partnership, we're bringing together two leading digital marketplaces to simplify the rental process for millions of families in the U.S. in search of their next home." The Apartment List rental inventory will begin appearing on realtor.com® and Doorsteps.com in January 2018. About Move, Inc. and realtor.com® Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV], provides unsurpassed real estate information, tools and professional expertise across a family of websites and mobile experiences for consumers and real estate professionals. The Move network includes realtor.com® as well as Doorsteps®, Moving.com™ and SeniorHousingNet℠, and offers a complete solution of software products and services to help real estate professionals serve their clients and grow their business in a digital world. Realtor.com® is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers, offering the most comprehensive source of for-sale properties, among competing national sites, and the information, tools and professional expertise to help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by Move under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®. About Apartment List Apartment List is the web's fastest-growing apartment rental marketplace on a mission to make finding a home an easy and delightful process. The company currently has over 3.5 million units on the platform and hosts five million visits each month in over 40 cities nationwide. Since inception, Apartment has raised nearly $60M in funding from investors including Caanan Partners, Matrix Partners and Passport Capital. Founded by CEO John Kobs and COO Chris Erickson, Apartment List launched its pure play rental marketplace in November 2014. The company has been named one of Forbes' "Top 25 Most Promising Companies" and one of Inc.'s "Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S." Learn more at apartmentlist.com.

Apartment List Partners with Homes.com to Make Multi-Family Renting More Accessible
Exclusive partnership brings Apartment List's multi-family expertise to Homes.com's platform SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26, 2017 -- Apartment List, the fastest growing rental marketplace, today announced a partnership with Homes.com, the leading online real estate destination and provider of real estate marketing solutions, to be the exclusive supplier of U.S. multi-family rental community listings* to Homes.com. The partnership combines Homes.com's audience and reach with Apartment List's best-in-class user experience and platform. According to U.S. Census data, homeownership rates have plummeted since the 2008 recession. Apartment Lists' recent Rentonomics report shows that more people are renting due to high homeownership costs and a lack of savings: 72 percent of millennial renters who would like to buy a home cite affordability as their biggest obstacle. In addition, generational tastes among millennials gravitate towards the flexibility that renting provides. "There has been a surprising lack of innovation to connect renters and properties, with many people relying on decades-old technology" said John Kobs, CEO and co-founder of Apartment List. "We're thrilled to partner with Homes.com to deliver our powerful search tools and streamlined user experience to their users. Together, we're making it easier and more accessible for millions of people to rent homes, with a wider array of listings than ever before." "Homes.com is excited to partner with Apartment List to offer consumers searching for their next home a best-in-class rental search experience," said David Mele, president of Homes.com. "This strategic collaboration offers added exposure and will drive more qualified consumers to Apartment List rental communities." Unlike other apartment search providers, Apartment List is focused on the renter and property owner, and has helped over 100,000 families find their home since 2014. The company offers the only pure play transaction-based marketplace for long-term rentals. * Multi-family rental communities of more than 100 units located within the U.S. About Apartment List Apartment List is the fastest-growing online apartment rental marketplace on a mission to make finding a home an easy and delightful process. The company currently has over three million units on the platform and has reached more than 66 million users in over 40 cities since launch. Since inception, Apartment has raised nearly $60M in funding from investors including Caanan Partners, Matrix Partners and Passport Capital. Apartment List launched in September 2011 and was founded by CEO John Kobs and COO Chris Erickson. The company has been named one of Forbes' "Top 25 Most Promising Companies" and one of Inc.'s "Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S." Learn more at www.apartmentlist.com. About Homes.com Homes.com is a leading provider of real estate marketing and media services, including brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation. Homes.com Connect offers the real estate industry's first-ever all-inclusive marketing platform for agents and brokers featuring single-login convenience. Homes.com is visited by over 14 million consumers each month to search nearly four million properties for sale or rent, to locate real estate agents in their area, and to find useful home buying tips. For more information, visit www.Homes.com.

Doorsteps Launches Rental Property Bot for Messenger
  SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 -- Doorsteps, powered by realtor.com®, today announced the launch of Doorsteps bot for Messenger that allows consumers to easily share criteria and automatically receive rental listings within Messenger. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc., a leading provider of online real estate services. As the rental market moves quickly, Doorsteps bot for Messenger taps one of the largest inventories of rental listings to provide daily updates and an opportunity to snatch up the latest loft or rustic inspired rental on the market. Properties are sourced from realtor.com®. With Doorsteps bot for Messenger, users can share the location they are looking in or share their phone's geolocation, and the bot responds with simple questions to best determine rentals that fit what the user is looking for - such as number of bedrooms, bathrooms and monthly price range. With a few simple commands, users can update their rental search criteria at any time. Doorsteps responds to search queries immediately with a list of rentals meeting the criteria outlined, and allows user scroll through options within Messenger, viewing photos and monthly cost. Users can opt to learn more about a listing, directing them to the listing on Doorsteps, or share the listing with friends via Messenger. New properties matching the specified search criteria are currently provided daily at 10 a.m. ET, and soon consumers will be able to customize the time to best suit their needs. "Given the competitive nature of the rental market, where moving quickly can mean landing the home of your dreams, it's important to create a rental search experience on the platforms our consumers are using in their daily lives," said Todd Callow, senior director of product at realtor.com®. "Doorsteps has already revolutionized rentals on mobile with Doorsteps Swipe, and today we're expanding that to our first messaging platform, bringing instant rental searches to where many consumers often are – Facebook and Messenger." Additional features and filter options for Doorsteps' bot will roll out in coming months, allowing further personalization to make the rental search experience as seamless as possible. Doorsteps will be expanding to additional messaging platforms in early 2017. Realtor.com® also offers a News & Advice chat bot for Messenger, so buyers and sellers can stay up to date on the latest real estate news via daily updates to Messenger. To subscribe, simply visit realtor.com® Facebook page, click message and type "subscribe." About realtor.com® Realtor.com® is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers, offering the most comprehensive source of for-sale properties, among competing national sites, and the information, tools and professional expertise to help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.

Affordability Concerns, Uncertainty about Down Payment Requirements Ensnaring Renters, Latest HOME Survey Shows
  WASHINGTON (September 14, 2016) – Lofty home-price growth and tight supply are leading to softening confidence among renters about whether it's a good time to buy a home, according to the latest installment of the National Association of Realtors® Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) survey. The survey also found that a misconception about how much of a down payment is needed to buy could be unnecessarily delaying some qualified young adults from entering the market. In NAR's third quarter HOME consumer survey, respondents were asked about their confidence in the U.S. economy and various questions about their housing expectations, including a series of questions related to down payments and the amount of money they believe they need to purchase a home. Heading into the autumn months, the share of homeowners and renters who believe now is a good time to buy remains at a solid majority but has crept downward since the beginning of this year. Seventy-eight percent of homeowners (80 percent in June; 82 percent in March) and 60 percent of renters (62 percent in the previous two quarters) said it's a good time to buy. In the inaugural HOME survey in December 2015, 68 percent of renters said it was a good time to buy. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says it's clear the ongoing run-up in home prices and severe inventory shortages in a large portion of the country are hitting consumer psyche – especially among renters. "This summer's historically low mortgage rates injected some additional demand into the market, but the dearth of homes for sale continues to keep a lid on sales but not prices," he said. "Given the stiff competition and limited homes available at the lower end of the market, it's not surprising at all that those under the age of 34 and in the West are the least confident about it being a good time to buy." Adds Yun, "Very affordable mortgage rates and strong job gains among young adults should be translating to a higher rate of homeownership. It's not, and as a result, sales to first-time buyers remain stuck below a third of all sales." This quarter's HOME survey also found that awareness of low-down-payment mortgage options was scarce across all ages, income brackets and education levels. Fewer than 20 percent in each group indicated that they need 10 percent or less to finance their home purchase. Those ages 65 and older (43 percent) and under the age of 35 (37 percent) were the most likely to believe that they need more than 20 percent. "It's possible some of the hesitation about buying right now among young adults is from them not realizing there  are mortgage financing options available that do not require a 20 percent down payment, which would be north of $100,000 in some expensive areas in the country," says Yun. "In fact, most first-time buyers put down much less. In the 35 year history of NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers – the longest-running survey series of national housing data – the average median down payment has been 5 percent for first-time buyers." With home prices and rents continuing to climb and make it difficult for many to save for a home purchase, one avenue for about a fifth (19 percent) of current homeowners was receiving down payment assistance from a parent or relative. Homeowners ages 34 and under were the most likely to say they received help from a parent or relative (34 percent), along with those living in the Northeast and in urban areas. When it comes to giving aid to prospective buyers, 16 percent said they have helped a child or relative with their down payment. It's no surprise that the older the respondent, the more likely they were to assist. "Creditworthy prospective buyers should know that many lenders now offer safe, sustainable loans with as little as 3 percent down, and obtaining a mortgage isn't as difficult as it was in the immediate years after the downturn," says NAR President Tom Salomone, broker-owner of Real Estate II Inc. in Coral Springs, Florida. "Every buyer is different. Before deciding how much to use on a down payment, buyers should carefully review their financial situation and make sure they still have enough money set aside after the home purchase for unexpected expenses and emergencies. A Realtor® will walk through what to consider based on what a buyer can comfortably afford." Feelings about direction of U.S. economy, personal financial outlook remain unchanged Following the same trend line since the inaugural HOME survey in December 2015, a little less than half of all households in the survey believe the economy is improving (48 percent). The younger the household the more optimistic they were about the economy's future prospects. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of those living in rural areas (63 percent) and 61 percent of those over the age of 65 don't believe the economy is improving. The HOME survey's monthly Personal Financial Outlook Index, showing respondents' confidence that their financial situation will be better in six months, ticked up very slightly (to 58.6 in September) since June (57.7), but is up much more since last September, when stock market losses at the time temporarily caused more consumer angst (53.0). Most expect prices to hold steady or increase, slightly more think it's a good time to sell More current homeowners (63 percent) believe it is a good time to sell compared to the second quarter of this year (61 percent). Respondents in the West continue to be the most likely to think now is a good time to sell, while also being the least likely to think now is a good time to buy. Consistent with last quarter (93 percent), almost all of those surveyed (91 percent) believe that prices will stay the same or rise in their community in the next six months. Renters, respondents living in urban areas and those from the West are most likely to believe prices will go up in their communities. About NAR's HOME survey In July through early September 2016, a sample of U.S. households was surveyed via random-digit dial, including half via cell phones and the other half via land lines. The survey was conducted by an established survey research firm, TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence. Each month approximately 900 qualified households responded to the survey. The data was compiled for this report and a total of 2,761 household responses are represented. The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing over 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

RealtyTrac Ranks Best Markets for Buying Single Family Rentals in 2016
IRVINE, CA--(March 31, 2016) - RealtyTrac®, the nation's leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its Q1 2016 Single Family Rental Market Report, which ranks the best markets for buying residential rental properties in 2016. The report analyzed single family rental returns in 448 U.S. counties each with a population of at least 100,000 and sufficient rental and home price data. Rental data was from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and home price data was from publicly recorded sales deed data collected and licensed by RealtyTrac markets (see full methodology below). The report ranked all 448 counties based on the potential annual gross rental yield (monthly rent, annualized, divided by median home price) and also identified the best counties for future growth in the single family rental market and the best millennial magnet single family rental markets. View interactive map displaying SFR returns in all 448 counties analyzed. "Rapidly rising home prices and tepid wage growth have dampened single family rental investment returns and growth potential in many markets, but there are still plenty of solid opportunities available for real estate investors willing to cast a wider geographic net," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. "Rents are rising faster than median home prices in 45 percent of the markets analyzed -- indicating continued strong demand for rentals in those markets -- while annual wage growth is outpacing rent growth in 43 percent of the markets -- indicating room for rising rental returns in those markets." Counties with highest single family rental returns The average annual gross rental yield among the 448 counties was 9.4 percent, down from an average of 9.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015. Counties with the highest annual gross rental yields were Baltimore City, Maryland (28.5 percent); Clayton County, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area (25.8 percent); Wayne County, Michigan in the Detroit metro area (24.2 percent); Bay County, Michigan, in the Bay City metro area (21.2 percent); and Macon County, Georgia (20.6 percent). "The strong South Florida rental market continues to give solid returns to the investors," said Mike Pappas, president and CEO of the Keyes Company, covering the South Florida market, where Miami-Dade County's potential single family rental return was 8.4 percent with rents rising 4 percent annually and home prices rising 11 percent annually. "Our limited land with growing population give the investors an additional equity kick in rising prices." Counties with lowest single family rental returns Counties with the lowest annual gross rental yields were Arlington County, Virginia in the Washington, D.C., metro area (3.3 percent); California Bay area counties of San Francisco (3.4 percent), San Mateo (3.6 percent), Marin (3.9 percent), Santa Cruz (4.0 percent) and Santa Clara (4.0 percent); Williamson County in the Nashville metro area (4.0 percent); and Kings County (Brooklyn), New York (4.0 percent). "I would expect to see a modest slowdown in rental rate growth given the distinct ties that there are between rental rate growth and income growth," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market, where King County's potential rental returns for 2016 ranked 394 out of the 448 counties analyzed. "If incomes do not keep on growing, rental rates cannot either. "I am also finding that some softness is starting to enter the single family rental market in Seattle for other reasons," continued Gardner, who noted that the RealtyTrac analysis shows King County rents grew 6 percent annually, home prices grew 10 percent annually while average wages grew less than 1 percent annually. "The first is that home prices are increasing to such a degree -- specifically in King County -- that investors will not be able to get sufficient yield on rents given high prices that they have to pay for houses. "Secondly, many single family rental households are families who had lost their previous home to foreclosure and are now becoming so-called 'boomerang buyers' who are now starting to be able to qualify for a mortgage again and are likely heading back into home ownership. This will reduce demand for single family rentals, and millennials will not take their place as they prefer urban multi-family units. Because of these confluence of factors, landlords are going to be cautious with any potential acquisition." Best single family rental growth markets The report identified and ranked 17 counties as the best markets for future growth in single family rental returns. In all 17 counties average weekly wages grew at least 5.0 percent annually and annual wage growth outpaced annual rental rate growth The top five counties are Genesee County, Michigan in the Flint metro area (15.3 percent annual gross rental yield and 5.0 percent annual wage growth); Camden County, New Jersey in the Philadelphia metro area (12.9 percent annual gross rental yield and 5.5 percent annual wage growth); Woodbury County, Iowa in the Sioux City metro area (11.4 percent annual gross rental yield and 11.3 percent annual wage growth); De Kalb County, Illinois in the Chicago metro area (11.3 percent annual gross rental yield and 8.9 percent annual wage growth); and Warren County, New Jersey in the Allentown, Pennsylvania metro area (10.8 percent annual gross rental yield and 6.0 percent annual wage growth). "With increasing jobs and immigrant growth, housing demand continues to grow across Ohio," said Michael Mahon, president at HER Realtors. As available housing inventory and new construction inventory remain low, rental pricing shall continue to rise throughout much of 2016." View interactive table showing all 17 best SFR growth markets. Best millennial magnet single family rental markets The report also identified and ranked 15 counties as the best markets for renting single family homes to millennials. In all 15 counties, the millennial share of the population increased at least a 10 percent between 2008 and 2013 and annual wage growth outpaced annual rental rate growth. Top five counties are Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (15.7 percent annual gross rental yield and millennial population share increase of 16.4 percent); Richmond City, Virginia (13.7 percent annual gross rental yield and millennial population share increase of 27.6 percent); Bell County, Texas in the Killeen-Temple metro area (11.9 percent annual gross rental yield and millennial population share increase of 20.6 percent); Jackson County, Missouri in the Kansas City metro area (11.1 percent annual gross rental yield and millennial population share increase of 13.5 percent), and Okaloosa County, Florida in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metro area (10.5 percent annual gross rental yield and millennial population share increase of 22.2 percent). View interactive table showing all 15 best millennial SFR markets. Zip codes with best and worst single family rental returns The report analyzed single family rental returns in 6,551 zip codes nationwide with a population of at least 2,500 and sufficient rental and home price data. The top five zip codes with the highest potential single family rental returns for 2016 were 48505 in the Flint, Michigan metro area (150.2 percent); 21223 in the Baltimore, Maryland metro area (102.0 percent); 35208 in the Birmingham, Alabama metro area (89.7 percent); 21205 in the Baltimore, Maryland metro area (87.8 percent); and 48205 in the Detroit, Michigan metro area (87.1 percent). The top five zip codes with the lowest potential single family rental returns for 2016 were 34102 in The Naples, Florida metro area (0.5 percent); 33480 in the Miami, Florida metro area (0.6 percent); followed by three zip codes in the Los Angeles metro area: 90210 (0.9 percent), 90069 (1.0 percent), and 90402 (1.1 percent). View interactive map displaying best and worst zip-level SFR returns by state. Methodology For this report, RealtyTrac looked at all U.S. counties with a population of 100,000 or more and with sufficient home price and rental rate data. Rental returns were calculated using annual gross rental yields: the 2016 50th percentile rent estimates for three-bedroom homes in each county from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), annualized, and divided by the median sales price of residential properties in each county. RealtyTrac also incorporated weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and demographic data from the U.S. Census into the report. The millennial generation was defined as someone who was born between the years 1979 to 1993. About RealtyTrac RealtyTrac is a leading provider of comprehensive U.S. housing and property data, including nationwide parcel-level records for more than 130 million U.S. properties. Detailed data attributes include property characteristics, tax assessor data, sales and mortgage deed records, distressed data, including default, foreclosure and auctions status, and Automated Valuation Models (AVMs). Sourced from RealtyTrac subsidiary Homefacts.com, the company's proprietary national neighborhood-level database includes more than 50 key local and neighborhood level dynamics for residential properties, providing unrivaled pre-diligence capabilities and a parcel risk database for portfolio analysis. RealtyTrac's data is widely viewed as the industry standard and, as such, is relied upon by real estate professionals and service providers, marketers and financial institutions, as well as the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury Department, HUD, state housing and banking departments, investment funds and tens of millions of consumers.

Apartments.com and Move, Inc., Operator of Realtor.com®, Enter into a Strategic Content Relationship
Washington, D.C., Nov. 20, 2015 – CoStar Group, Inc., owner of Apartments.com, today announced an agreement to exclusively power the apartment community listings on the websites owned and operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc.– realtor.com®, Move.com, and Doorsteps.com – with advertiser content from Apartments.com and ApartmentFinder.com. The Apartments.com apartment community listing information complements realtor.com®'s listings content, which is derived from relationships with agents, brokers, landlords and residential property managers nationwide. The agreement is designed to increase traffic across CoStar's and Move's rental sites with the goal of enabling more leads, faster responses, and increased revenue opportunities for both companies. As part of the relationship, Move websites will now offer even more choices, properties and insights for prospective renters as well. Apartments.com is the most heavily trafficked apartment rental website and has more listings than any other apartment rental site. Realtor.com® is the fastest-growing online real estate destination for home buyers, sellers, renters and dreamers, with audience growth of 43 percent during the first three quarters of 2015. Doorsteps.com and Move.com are leading destinations for local rental listings, homebuyer education and tools for real estate professionals. "Our relationship with realtor.com® means that for one of the lowest price points in the industry and the convenience of a single point of contact, we will now promote our advertisers' communities across six major apartment and real estate rental websites," said Andrew Florance, CoStar Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "The Apartments.com Network is now clearly the most heavily trafficked family of apartment rental websites. We expect to drive an even greater increase in lead flow to our advertisers' communities." "We're excited to provide our users access to an unsurpassed selection of apartment listings and new, high quality content dedicated to our renter audience," said Ryan O'Hara, Chief Executive Officer of Move. "We look forward to featuring this content in the coming weeks and delivering an even more valuable experience to renters looking for their next home on realtor.com." The deal extends the Apartments.com rental content to six leading websites including Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, realtor.com®, Move.com, and Doorsteps.com. "Renters generally visit multiple websites in their search for an apartment – so it's important to feature our advertisers' communities across multiple websites with diverse character, personality, and functionality," said Florance. "In addition to having massive site traffic, we believe that realtor.com® uniquely serves potential renters who aspire to purchase their dream home." The Apartments.com Network is expected to grow even stronger with December's re-release of ApartmentFinder.com after a $30 million renovation. When CoStar Group re-launched Apartments.com earlier this year it enjoyed an immediate and sustained boost in traffic, high consumer satisfaction, and a surge in advertising sales. Florance continued, "We've invested $1 billion in the multifamily sector to deliver the best results for all of our audiences, whether they're advertisers, consumers, property managers, investors, or lenders. The name CoStar itself communicates that we view our efforts as a co-starring role with multifamily agents and brokers to best serve clients. We are very pleased to now have the opportunity to align with realtor.com®, and the professionalism the organization embodies." About CoStar Group, Inc. CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) is the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. LoopNet is the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online with more than 10 million registered members. Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com and ApartmentHomeLiving.com currently form the premier online apartment resource for renters seeking great apartment homes and provide property managers and owners a proven platform for marketing their properties. CoStar Group operates websites with over 23.7 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate as of September 2015. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe and Toronto with a staff of approximately 2,850 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit www.costargroup.com. About Apartments.com Apartments.com is the leading online apartment listing website offering renters access to information on more than 500,000 available units for rent. Powered by CoStar, Apartments.com is supported by the industry's largest professional research team. Apartments.com researchers have visited and photographed over 400,000 properties nationwide, and make over 1 million calls each month to apartment owners and property managers to collect and verify current availabilities, rental rates, pet policies, fees, leasing incentives, concessions, and more. Apartments.com offers more apartments than other apartments websites, and innovative features to help renters refine their searches, including map searches, a Polygon™ tool to draw their own search area on a map, and a "Plan Commute" feature that lets them search for rentals in proximity to a specific address. Apartments.com creates easy access to its listings through a responsive website and iOS and Android apps, and provides unmatched exposure for its advertisers through an intuitive name, strategic search engine placements and innovative emerging media. Apartments.com reaches millions of renters nationwide, driving both qualified traffic and highly engaged renters to leasing offices nationwide. For more information: www.apartments.com. About Move, Inc. and realtor.com® Move operates the realtor.com® website and mobile experiences, which provide buyers, sellers and renters of homes with the information, tools and professional expertise they need to discover and create their perfect home. News Corp acquired Move in November 2014, and realtor.com® quickly established itself as the fastest growing online real estate service provider in 2015 as measured by comScore. As the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®, consumers know they can look to realtor.com® for the most comprehensive and accurate information anytime, anywhere. With relationships with more than 800 multiple listing services (MLS), realtor.com® has more than 3 million for-sale listings, which account for more than 97 percent of all MLS-listed for-sale properties. More than 90 percent of the listings are updated every 15 minutes. Move supports real estate professionals by providing many services to grow their businesses in an increasing digital, on-demand world, including ListHub™, the nation's leading listing syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the real estate industry; TigerLead®; Top Producer Systems®; and FiveStreet and Reesio as well as many free services.

Renting Less Affordable Than Ever Before, While Mortgages Remain Affordable, by Historical Standards
  SEATTLE, Aug. 13, 2015 -- Paying for a mortgage is still affordable, while rent takes up more income than ever in most major metro areas, according to a Zillow® analysis of U.S. rental and mortgage affordabilityi in the second quarter of 2015. Rental affordability worsened over the last year, while mortgage affordability stayed essentially the same. Renters in the U.S. can expect to put 30.2 percent of their monthly income toward rent – the highest percentage ever. Before the real estate bubble and bust, U.S. renters could expect to spend about 24.4 percent of their incomes on rent. Buyers should expect to pay 15.1 percent of their income towards mortgage payments, which is still less than what they spent historically. From 1985 through 2000, homeowners spent about 21.3 percent of their monthly income on mortgage payments. In Denver and four California metros, both renters and buyers can expect to pay more of their income towards either rent or mortgage payments than in pre-bubble years. In hot San Jose, renters and buyers should each plan to put about 42 percent of their incomes towards housing. "Our research found that unaffordable rents are making it hard for people to save for a down payment and retirement, and that people whose rent is unaffordable are more likely to skip out on their own healthcare," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. "There are good reasons to rent temporarily – when you move to a new city, for example – but from an affordability perspective, rents are crazy right now. If you can possibly come up with a down payment, then it's a good time to buy a home and start putting your money toward a mortgage." Mortgage payments will continue to be affordable even if mortgage rates rise as expected. If rates reach six percent next year, home buyers can still expect to spend 30 percent or less of their income on mortgage payments in 265 out of 290 (91.4 percent) of the metros Zillow analyzed, and mortgage payments will be considered more affordable than in pre-bubble years in 72.1 percent of metros. Rents, on the other hand, are already unaffordable compared to historic norms in 77 percent of metros, and with relatively stagnant wage growth, this likely won't improve as rents keep climbing. About Zillow Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z), and headquartered in Seattle.

Rents Gallop Past Home Values in April
SEATTLE, May 21, 2015 -- Soaring rents outpaced home values in April for the first time in years, further deepening a "rental crisis" and signaling that home values are growing at a more normal pace, according to April Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports. Home values in April ticked slightly upward from March, to a national Zillow Home Value Index of $178,400 ­– a three percent increase over last April. The Zillow Rent Index (ZRI) rose four percent year-over-year, to $1,364. The switch comes after years of rapid home-value increases sped along by the improving economy. U.S. home values peaked in 2007, and then crashed during the Great Recession between 2008 and 2010. Since then, they have risen rapidly, returning to their peak levels in many markets. Home values have both risen and fallen over the past decade, but rents have been steadily rising. They are now higher than ever before. Rental growth has been outpacing home value growth for several months in some of the nation's hottest markets. In San Francisco, rents started rising faster than home values in July 2014, and have been growing faster ever since on an annual basis. In Boston, annual rental growth has outpaced home value appreciation since August 2014. Low mortgage rates have helped make buying a home much more affordable than renting. On average, U.S. homebuyers can expect to spend about 15.3 percent of their income each month on a typical house payment. Renters can expect to spend about 30 percent on a monthly rent payment. "There are tremendous incentives to get into homeownership these days: mortgage access is improving, interest rates are low, and home values remain below prior peaks," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "But it will be increasingly difficult for many renters to realize these benefits as this country's growing rental affordability crisis continues to worsen. More income going to rent means less going to savings for a down payment and other costs, keeping renters renting longer and feeding into the high demand that is contributing to rising rents in the first place. This cycle will be difficult to break, and is a symptom of the imbalances that still exist in the housing market as we struggle to get back to normal. New construction and rising wages will help, but neither is coming very quickly." Over the next year, home value growth is expected to slow even further, to 2 percent annually, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecast. In 2014, home values rose 4.9 percent. About Zillow: Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. In 2015, Dr. Humphries co-wrote and published the New York Times' bestselling "Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate." Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z), and headquartered in Seattle.

Home Buying Pays Off Fast, but Hurdles Remain For Renters
SEATTLE, April 8, 2015 -- Even though buyers in most markets can break even on a home purchase in less than two years, nearly half of renters in a newly released survey said their credit or finances keep them from buying a home. Of renters surveyed by Zillow®, 16 percent said they can't qualify for a home loan, 18 percent said they can't afford taxes, maintenance and other costs associated with homeownership, and 13 percent said they don't have enough savings for a down payment. About a quarter said they struggle to pay their rent. According to the survey, 82 percent of renters are long-term renters, and 57 percent are long-term renters who have lived for a long time in the same home. Just 14 percent of renters said they aren't staying long enough in the same place to buy. Zillow's survey sheds light on why some renters are not buying homes, despite historically low interest rates, prices that remain below peak levels in many areas and rising rents. Mortgage math aside, 20 percent of renters said they simply prefer to rent. "If the buy versus rent decision were about simple math, we'd likely have millions more homebuyers in the market, because the equation is tilted heavily in favor of buying," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "But no matter what the numbers say, buying a home is a huge commitment. Every day, Americans make decisions to buy or rent based on any number of personal dynamics, including preference, flexibility needs, family factors and, yes, financial considerations. There is no right or wrong choice, and it's important that America's housing market maintains a number of affordable options for renters and buyers, no matter their preferences." Over the last year, as home-price appreciation has slowed down, the length of time it takes to break even on a home purchase grew slightly in most major metros. The breakeven analysis looks at how long it takes to come out ahead on a home purchase versus renting the same home, recouping the costs of buying, including taxes and maintenance. Among the top 35 metro areas in the U.S., Dallas-Fort Worth had the lowest breakeven horizon, at 1.2 years. Indianapolis, Ind. and Detroit were next at 1.3 years. The highest breakeven horizons were in Los Angeles, at 5.1 years, Washington D.C. (4.2 years) and San Diego (3.8 years). The national average is 1.9 years. Zillow's breakeven horizon incorporates all costs associated with buying and renting, including upfront payments, closing costs, anticipated monthly rent and mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, utilities, maintenance, and renovation costs. The horizon also factors in home equity growth for buyers, and, for renters, income earned if they invested the same amount of money into an interest-bearing account. It also factors in historic and anticipated home value appreciation rates, rental prices and rental appreciation rates. About Zillow Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. In 2015, Dr. Humphries co-wrote and published the New York Times' bestselling "Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate." Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z), and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow Rental Network Adds Trulia; Significantly Expands Reach of Largest Rental Network on the Web
SEATTLE, March 10, 2015 -- Zillow Group, which houses a portfolio of the largest and most vibrant rental, real estate and home-related brands on mobile and Web, today announced that Trulia has joined the Zillow® Rental Network. Now, rental property marketers and landlords will have access to Trulia's 55 million monthly unique visitors providing an even larger audience of renters through one marketing platform. As the Zillow Rental Network already attracted the largest audience of rental shoppers on the Web, the addition of Trulia's audience expands this reach even further. "We are incredibly pleased with how quickly we've been able to bring Trulia into the Zillow Rental Network," said Greg Schwartz, Zillow Group chief revenue officer. "Adding Trulia to the Zillow Rental Network brings new opportunities to our multifamily partners and landlords, giving them exposure to a much larger audience while providing a more streamlined customer service experience. Rental shoppers will continue to benefit from two very large and diverse rental sites." Starting today, rental shoppers who visit Trulia or Trulia's mobile apps will have access to hundreds of thousands of rental listings from the Zillow Rental Network. "The Zillow Rental Network has very high standards when it comes to qualified contacts," said Jennifer Staciokas, senior vice president of marketing and training at Pinnacle. "We are excited to see that the Zillow Rental Network is expanding its reach with the addition of Trulia. As a result, we expect our properties will receive even more traffic from better qualified contacts." About Zillow Group Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) houses a portfolio of the largest real estate and home-related brands on the Web and mobile. The company's brands focus on all stages of the home lifecycle: renting, buying, selling, financing and home improvement. Zillow Group is committed to empowering consumers with unparalleled data, inspiration and knowledge around homes, and connecting them with the right local professionals to help. The Zillow Group portfolio of consumer brands includes real estate and rental marketplaces Zillow®, Trulia®, StreetEasy® and HotPads®. In addition, Zillow Group works with tens of thousands of real estate agents, lenders and rental professionals, helping them maximize business opportunities and connect to millions of consumers. The company operates a number of brands for real estate, rental and mortgage professionals, including Postlets®, Mortech®, Diverse Solutions®, Market Leader®, ActiveRain® and Retsly™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

U.S. Renters Paid $441 Billion in Rent in 2014, Up Nearly $21 Billion Since 2013
SEATTLE, Dec. 30, 2014 -- Americans shelled out $20.6 billion more in rent in 2014 compared to 2013. Cumulatively, U.S. renters paid $441 billion in rent in 2014 compared to $420 billion last year, an increase of nearly five percent (4.9 percent), as both the number of renting households and the average rent rose nationally, according to a Zillow rentals analysis. Locally, the Bay Area, consisting of the San Jose and San Francisco metros, saw the largest jump in cumulative rent paid in 2014, up 14.4 and 13.5 percent respectively. Rent per household in the San Jose, Calif. metro rose by $197 per month, while rent in the San Francisco metro rose by $163 per month. Out of the top 50 largest U.S. metro areas, the largest amount of cumulative rent was paid the New York-Northern New Jersey ($50 billion) and Los Angeles ($34 billion) metros. The smallest amount of cumulative rent was paid by renters in Birmingham, Ala. ($1 billion), Louisville, Ky. ($1.2 billion) and Buffalo, N.Y. ($1.2 billion). Nationally, the total number of renters is estimated to have grown 1.9 percent in 2014. Over the same time period, the median rent paid increased 2.9 percent. "Over the past fourteen years, rents have grown at twice the pace of income due to weak income growth, burgeoning rental demand, and insufficient growth in the supply of rental housing. This has created real opportunities for rental housing owners and investors, but has also been a bitter pill to swallow for tenants, particularly those on an entry-level salary and those would-be buyers struggling to save for a down payment on a home of their own," said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. "Next year, we expect rents to rise even faster than home values, meaning that another increase in total rent paid similar to that seen this year isn't out of the question. In fact, it's probable." * Data for the 50 largest metros covered in this Zillow rentals report is available. About Zillow: Zillow, Inc. operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. The Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgages, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs®, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Mortech®, HotPads™, StreetEasy® and Retsly™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

ForRent.com® Pushes Limits of Today’s Smartphones in Latest Apartment Search Apps
  Norfolk, VA, October 29, 2014 – ForRent.com®, leading online apartment search destination, inspires renters to discover their next apartment, condo, loft or townhouse through innovative search filters that allow for quick and easy narrowing down of choices. The most recently released apps, Sift Rentals™ for iOS, which allows prospective renters to take advantage of the "swipe left for no, swipe right for yes" design, and ApartmentView™ for Android make for quicker, more enjoyable searching. At a time when consumers are overwhelmed with one new app after another, Sift Rentals, available in the Apple App Store, is the easiest way to cut through the "clutter," simply ignoring apartments and homes not of interest and quickly focusing on the ones that are. This makes for a shorter apartment search and a more gratifying experience. Users can explore search results through photos, videos, motion-controlled Google Street View, distance to points of interest, detailed listing information and more. A highly visual app, Sift Rentals includes all ForRent.com inventory as well as Homes.com® rentals. Users can swipe left for "no," hiding the listings in which they are not interested, or swipe right for "yes," saving potential rentals of interest for later viewing, leaving users with a feeling of instant gratification. Additionally, recent searches are automatically saved to make coming. back to listings of interest hassle-free. If a mistake is made, users can simply shake their iPhones to undo. The ApartmentView app, available on Google Play, is a cutting-edge, augmented reality app, currently available for Android and coming soon to iOS. Users simply point their phone's camera at nearby apartments to explore photos, floor plans, prices, amenities and more. The prospective renter can then call or email property management directly from the app if interested. There is also a mini-map feature that works with the slide of a finger in order to increase the search distance. "ForRent.com is committed to providing users with the most engaging and rewarding apartment search experience out there," said Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions™. "The newest apps are truly cutting-edge and innovative products of teamwork and the ability to gauge the future landscape of the apartment renting industry. As one of the first to offer such original apartment hunting experiences, ForRent.com is excited to see how these two new apps will assist renters in their apartment shopping journey." To view videos of the Sift Rentals app and the ApartmentView app, visit the ForRent.com YouTube page. About ForRent.com® As one of the nation's leading online home search destinations, ForRent.com® inspires renters to discover their next apartment, loft, townhouse, or condo. ForRent.com features rental listings in a user-friendly format, making finding your next home an easy exploration. Visitors to the ForRent.com blog will discover relevant information and can join the conversation surrounding home decorating style, apartment hunting tips and more. ForRent.com serves as the complete resource for renters in every part of their living experience. About Homes.com® As one of the nation's top online real estate destinations, Homes.com inspires consumers to dream big. From affordable houses to luxurious estates, condos, apartment rentals and more, Homes.com features more than 3 million property listings and exclusive distribution of over 20,000 apartment listings from ForRent.com in a user-friendly format, making finding your next home easy. Visitors to the Homes.com blog will find a collection of rich information and posts on DIY projects, painting, organization tips and more, providing the ultimate resource for everything home related. From finding your first apartment to buying your first home, upgrading, downsizing and everything in between, Homes.com is an inspiring and engaging partner in every phase of the home buying or renting process. Visit Homes.com and download the Homes.com Mobile App, Rentals Mobile App, or Mortgage Calculator to assist in your home search. For home decor tips and more, visit Blog.Homes.com.

CoreLogic Launches Online Leasing Solution
  IRVINE, CA, October 03, 2014 – CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, today introduced Leasing Manager from CoreLogic, a new cloud-based, online leasing solution for multi-family housing owners and managers. Leasing Manager helps fulfill the promise of online leasing software by introducing a simplified application process designed to keep prospective residents online so they complete the application. In response to property owner and manager demand, CoreLogic realized the need for an online leasing solution that streamlined an applicant's workflow, provided a compelling applicant experience, and enabled property managers to configure and customize the user interface to reflect their branding and messaging. Leasing Manager incorporates that functionality so that the applicants can search and apply for apartment homes, initiate screening requests, make payments, review documents and transition to become new residents. The technology makes the leasing agents more productive and shortens the time to revenue for property owners. "Property owners told us that complicated online applications were driving applicants into the leasing office, defeating the purpose of the technology," says Suzette LeSane, vice president of product management and delivery for CoreLogic. "We are introducing a solution that provides a great applicant experience, creates a larger pool of rental candidates, and drives greater conversion from applicant to resident for our clients." Applicants can easily browse real-time vacancies, pricing and other information available through the property's preferred property management platform. Application fees and deposits paid by prospective residents are automatically updated in the property management software ledger and transferred to the property's account. A stand-alone version lets property owners showcase available apartment homes and current rental pricing. Whether fully integrated with leading property management software solutions or used as a stand-alone version, applicants enjoy the same online application, resident credit quality screening and fee payment processes. Leasing Manager is highly configurable at the property level including branding, presentation of community rules and policies, and messages for applicants. Other Benefits of Leasing Manager: A faster application process and greater potential application throughput by collecting the least amount of personal information necessary for the prospective resident to be screened Time savings for the leasing agent and earlier financial commitment to the property by the applicant since application fees and deposits are collected prior to the screening, shortening the time to revenue for the property owner A choice between greater process efficiencies through automated screening or greater personal service through the manual screening option More time for leasing agents to increase revenue by upselling residents on rental items such as parking spaces, storage units and washer/dryers since data entry is performed by the applicant CoreLogic is one of the nation's leading background screening and risk management providers in the multi-family housing industry. For more information, visit www.corelogic.com/leasingmanager. About CoreLogic CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 3.5 billion records spanning more than 40 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

For Rent Media Solutions™ First to Launch Innovative Homepage Experience on ForRent.com®
  Norfolk, Virginia, August 28, 2014 – For Rent Media Solutions (FRMS)™, leading multifamily resource providing marketing solutions for property management companies nationwide, is the first to launch a new web experience on the homepage of ForRent.com®. The ForRent.com homepage video experience (FRVideo), geo-targeted and unique to each local area, provides a richer, more engaging and memorable experience for apartment shoppers. Depending on where the renter is searching for an apartment, the static city photo formerly on the ForRent.com homepage has been replaced with a geo-targeted FRVideo showcasing significant community features and apartment lifestyles. With over 4.4 million people visiting ForRent.com in July, those who come to the homepage will now experience their very own customized local visual tour. Other high-profile companies that offer this compelling virtual tour are PayPal, Spotify, and AirBnB. When a potential renter lands on the ForRent.com homepage, the geo-targeted FRVideo will span the entire width of their browser, enticing them to not only spend more time on the website, but also leave with a positive user experience. Additionally, renters are able to view certain amenities and features right off the bat upon arrival to ForRent.com. This can help renters determine what is important to them when it comes to amenities and features. "For Rent Media Solutions is committed to providing consumers with the most engaging apartment shopping experience possible; our apartment shoppers will have a richer experience on ForRent.com. This translates to increased exposure for customers, ultimately driving more leads and achieving more success for them," said Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions and Homes.com®. "As the first media company in the multifamily industry to launch such an innovative apartment search experience, FRMS is excited to see how the allure of the homepage FRVideos will help renters better enjoy their apartment shopping journey." Consistently monitoring the global market for new trends and ideas, FRMS strives to implement those ideas to increase its customers' success. For customers, the benefits of FRVideos are innumerable. With premium placement on the ForRent.com homepage, select apartment communities can now gain impactful exposure to their properties like never before, leaving viewers with a great first impression. View an example of the new FRVideo homepage feature by visiting www.ForRent.com. For more information on the newest and immersive feature from ForRent.com, email [email protected] or visit bit.ly/FRVideo2014 to learn more about FRVideo. About For Rent Media Solutions™ Founded in 1982 as For Rent Magazine®, For Rent Media Solutions™ is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and provides property managers and owners with diverse marketing and advertising products, services and education. These products are easy to use, easy to understand, and designed with renters in mind. For apartment shoppers, For Rent Media Solutions provides robust community listings in a multitude of media, including print, social, online, mobile, video and an extensive distribution network. For Rent Media Solutions publishes 80 magazines covering more than 80 markets nationwide, including AFTER55.com™ A Senior Housing and Care Resource, ForRent.com® Magazine and ForRent.com en Español Revista De Apartamentos. For Rent Media Solutions operates five websites: ForRent.com, AFTER55.com™, CorporateHousing.com®, ForRent.com en Español and ForRentUniversity.com™. Additionally, ForRent.com listings receive exclusive distribution to Homes.com® Rentals. Visit ForRent.com for more information, or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. About ForRent.com® As one of the nation's leading online home search destinations, ForRent.com® inspires renters to discover their next apartment, loft, townhouse, or condo. ForRent.com features rental listings in a user-friendly format, making finding your next home an easy exploration. Visitors to the ForRent.com blog will discover relevant information and can join the conversation surrounding home decorating style, apartment hunting tips and more. ForRent.com serves as the complete resource for renters in every part of their living experience. Begin your apartment search today with ForRent.com, the ForRent.com mobile app, ForRent.com Magazine or search ForRent.com on YouTube. For decor tips and more, visit ForRent.com/Blog.

Local Content is Key, According to New Guide Released by For Rent Media Solutions™ and Homes.com®
NORFOLK, VA, August 11, 2014 -- For Rent Media Solutions™ and Homes.com®, leading real estate marketing resources designed to assist today's apartment and home owners throughout every stage of the rental and owning process, have released the "Rise to the Top: Be the Local Expert" guide to help real estate and multifamily professionals overcome marketing challenges, achieve success, and better understand what being a "local expert" in their communities entails. According to consumer trending research, "local love" is becoming increasingly popular across the nation. For Rent Media Solutions and Homes.com saw an opportunity to share with customers a way to better reach and connect with their clients and increase their business. Rise to the Top: Be the Local Expert not only reveals how important it is to be the local expert in the real estate and multifamily industries, but also includes best practices on how to become that expert. Real estate professionals will gain valuable insights into this unique trend of local love, impactful because of the emphasis it places on communities and the feelings of pride it generates within inhabitants of these communities, through tips and tricks for getting on that local level. Key tips and best practices included in this guide: How to use video to engage customers and, more importantly, how to share that video effectively Marketing best practices for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ for real estate professionals to most effectively reach and connect with local renters, buyers and sellers Insights into mobile trends and the influence they have on American consumers and the real estate industry, specifically. With 90% of mobile searches resulting in taking action and over half of those actions resulting in a sale, local mobile is crucial to a real estate professional's marketing strategy Detailed insight into incorporating the latest technology within a business plan, staying on top of prominent search trends, and effectively driving exposure to listings and the local community According to Gary Vaynerchuk, New York Times best-selling author and social media expert, "You must be your town's local newspaper. Everyone's a media company, so the number one thing you should strive for is to become the authority in the local market." Like Vaynerchuk, experts such as Jay Baer, marketing keynote speaker and best-selling author; Jennifer Williams, Digital Marketing Manager, Homes.com; and Michael Krisa, renowned internet marketing consultant, offer their comments throughout the guide, adding another layer of knowledge to the information provided. "Local love is a hot topic recently, and in order to drive more quality leads for our customers, we wanted to share applicable insights with them to engage with customers, both present and potential, and increase their business," said Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions and Homes.com. "The dedicated teams at For Rent Media Solutions and Homes.com are fully committed to providing customers with the most up-to-date information essential to gaining exposure to their communities." For an in-depth look at influential trends and constructive tips for rising to the top of your local market, download the "Rise to the Top: Be the Local Expert" guide today! About For Rent Media Solutions™ Founded in 1982 as For Rent Magazine®, For Rent Media Solutions™ is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and provides property managers and owners with diverse marketing and advertising products, services and education. These products are easy to use, easy to understand, and designed with renters in mind. For apartment shoppers, For Rent Media Solutions provides robust community listings in a multitude of media, including print, social, online, mobile, video and an extensive distribution network. For Rent Media Solutions publishes 80 magazines covering more than 80 markets nationwide, including AFTER55.com™ A Senior Housing and Care Resource, ForRent.com® Magazine and ForRent.com en Español Revista De Apartamentos. For Rent Media Solutions operates five websites: ForRent.com, AFTER55.com™, CorporateHousing.com®, ForRent.com en Español and ForRentUniversity.com™. Additionally, ForRent.com listings receive exclusive distribution to Homes.com® Rentals. Visit ForRent.com for more information, or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. About Homes.com Homes.com is a leading provider of real estate marketing and media services, including brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation. Homes Connect by Homes.com offers the real estate industry's first-ever, all-inclusive marketing platform for agents and brokers featuring single-login convenience, and the new Homes.com Social offers innovative tools and resources to help real estate professionals save time and simplify social media marketing. Over 10 million consumers visit Homes.com each month to search nearly 3 million properties for sale or rent, to locate real estate agents in their area, and to find useful home buying tips. For more information, visit Homes.com.

Zillow to Bring RealPage Services to Rental Companies
SEATTLE, WA, July 21, 2014 -- Zillow, Inc., the leading real estate and home-related marketplace, today announced a new partnership with RealPage, a leading provider of on-demand property management software, to help connect multifamily companies with new residents. This partnership will broaden the marketing exposure for multifamily rental companies that choose to market their rental listings on Zillow®, while providing new tools and services to help them manage their listings and find their new residents more quickly. As part of the agreement, MyNewPlace, RealPage's rental website, will join the Zillow Rental Network, comprised of Zillow.com, Yahoo!® and HotPads™. Under the agreement, multifamily rental companies that market their listings on Zillow will have the option to have their listings appear on MyNewPlace. Zillow will also begin offering RealPage's near real-time pricing and availability information to multifamily companies who also use RealPage products and services. Additionally, all multifamily companies will soon be able to take advantage of RealPage Live Agent Service, which leverages the RealPage Contact Center solution, to help manage incoming contacts. "RealPage's tools and service will bring great value to our multifamily rental customers," said Greg Schwartz, Zillow chief revenue officer. "In addition to bringing more consumers to their listings, property managers will have new tools at their disposal to manage their properties more easily. In turn, this will provide the 15 million rental shoppers who come to Zillow a better experience." "We are very pleased to be partnering with Zillow as this relationship will benefit both RealPage and Zillow users alike," said Steve Winn, CEO of RealPage. "We will continue to market the MyNewPlace Premium service, which compliments the Zillow listings and gives owners and managers even more contacts. By adding pricing, unit availability and, most importantly, a live agent on the other end of each phone and email contact, we are confident that Zillow users will realize increased lead-to-lease conversion rates." About Zillow, Inc. Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z) operates the leading real estate and home-related information marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. Zillow's brands serve the full lifecycle of owning and living in a home: buying, selling, renting, financing, remodeling and more. In addition, Zillow offers a suite of tools and services to help local real estate, mortgage, rental and home improvement professionals manage and market their businesses. Welcoming 83 million unique users in June 2014, the Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs®, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio®, Mortech®, HotPads™, StreetEasy® and Retsly™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Homes.com Rentals Helps Multifamily Professionals Target Renters
  Norfolk, VA, June 17, 2014 – ForRent.com® and Homes.com® recently revealed the results of their "Rental Profile Insights Survey: A Look at Today's Renter," showing the desire for traditional apartments outweighs the desire for residential rental properties. The survey showcases that it's more important than ever for multi-family professionals to utilize advertising tools to reach the growing number of renters across the country. Targeting consumers searching for apartments, Homes.com has launched Mobile Local & City Banner Ads, providing an innovative advertising solution to the multifamily industry. The Homes.com Rentals Mobile Local & City Banner Ads, exclusive to ForRent.com customers, are dynamic advertising solutions, compatible with iOS and Android devices. The tools provide property managers the ability to consistently and prominently place advertising to highlight their rental community to millions of monthly apartment and rental shoppers visiting the Homes.com Rentals channel. Since its launch earlier this year, these ads have increased awareness and leads for participating property managers with customers in Nevada, Louisiana, New Jersey, Georgia and North and South Carolina, to name a few. "With the local housing market gaining momentum, I was looking for a way to keep our apartment community in the spotlight," said Kory Leighty, NALP, Property Manager, Blankenbaker Crossings Apartments (Louisville, Kentucky). "The solution to my needs was the Homes.com City Ad. This marketing approach allowed me to reach and be visible to a broader group of individuals seeking their next place to call home." "The evolution and success of the Mobile Local & City Banner Ads product is a testament to Homes.com and ForRent.com's exclusive partnership, which is centered on continuously developing innovative solutions that better serve our customers by connecting them to consumers," said Brock MacLean, executive vice president of Homes.com. "As the first in the multifamily industry to develop and launch a rental advertising product of this caliber, clients have direct, real-time access to potential renters via desktop and mobile interfaces on Homes.com. We are thrilled to see so many property managers already benefiting with quality leads and increased awareness of their rental properties." Key features and benefits of the Homes.com Mobile Local & City Banner Ads include: High impact ad positioning with top-anchored placement as user scrolls Click-to-Call functionality for real-time access Hyperlocal reach with targets to city or zip code level Integration with the top property management software applications, including RealPage, RentSentinel, Vaultware, Property Solutions, and RentCafe to name a few, to seamlessly connect leads to third party applications. For more information about this innovative product, stop by the For Rent Media Solutions booth at the National Apartment Association (NAA) Conference in Denver, Colorado June 18-21, or visit bit.ly/HomesRentals. About Homes.com As one of the nation's top online real estate destinations, Homes.com inspires consumers to dream big. From affordable houses to luxurious estates, condos, apartment rentals and more, Homes.com features more than 3 million property listings and exclusive distribution of over 20,000 apartment listings from ForRent.com in a user-friendly format, making finding your next home easy. Visitors to the Homes.com blog will find a collection of rich information and posts on DIY projects, painting, organization tips and more, providing the ultimate resource for everything home related. From finding your first apartment to buying your first home, upgrading, downsizing and everything in between, Homes.com is an inspiring and engaging partner in every phase of the home buying or renting process. About ForRent.com® As one of the nation's leading online home search destinations, ForRent.com® inspires renters to discover their next apartment, loft, townhouse, or condo. ForRent.com features rental listings in a user-friendly format, making finding your next home an easy exploration. Visitors to the ForRent.com blog will discover relevant information and can join the conversation surrounding home decorating style, apartment hunting tips and more. ForRent.com serves as the complete resource for renters in every part of their living experience.

CoreLogic Expands Services In Response to Changing Landlord Dynamics
  IRVINE, CA, April 02, 2014-- CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics, and data-enabled services provider, today announced the expansion of its tenant screening services to deliver enhanced data for rental applicant screenings for single-family rentals and the "small-landlord" market. The expansion of services, offered through myrental.com, leverages the vast CoreLogic public record and proprietary databases to provide unique applicant data for landlords to assess applicant risk and identify those renters who are most likely to fulfill their lease obligations. The myrental.com expansion offers a first-of-its-kind comparison of tenant scores within geographic areas so that landlords can evaluate applicant risk relative to other applicants in the same region. The comparison also provides accept/decline rates for specific tenant scores within the same geographic area so that landlords can make decisions based on relative rental activity. This is particularly useful for independent landlords who may lack access to data and analytics capabilities to assess risk. "It's important that as market needs shift, we respond to accommodate the changing dynamics of the landlord market," said Pam Storm, senior vice president, CoreLogic Specialty Credit. "The growth in the single-family rental market has created a new kind of landlord for whom risk assessment is just as important as for large, multifamily apartment communities. Using data and analytics to make smarter, more informed leasing decisions makes sense for every property owner and manager. Thousands of dollars are at stake. By providing industry-unique analytics tools, and other more targeted data, landlords of any size can manage risk effectively and efficiently." The expanded tenant screening services and enhanced applicant risk score will provide landlords with: Individual credit scores using "credit push" technology that allows applicants to provide quick online approval for landlords to access their credit report. This saves time and money since no site visit is required. Historical data on applicant activity, prior lease obligation performance and previous evictions, going back seven years. Accept and decline rates among other landlords in the same geographic area and comparison tenant scores in order to compare applicants who share the same risk profiles. Automatic and guaranteed acceptance for renters insurance, through third-party underwriters, for qualifying applicants through rentersinsuranceselect.com. Criminal background checks. To accommodate landlords of any size, information and data can be purchased a la carte or bundled in order to provide cost-effective risk assessment based on individual tenant screening requirements. More information is available at myrental.com. About CoreLogic CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 3.3 billion records spanning more than 40 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

Realtor.com® Enhances Rentals App to Offer Location-Based Listing Notifications and iOS 7 AirDrop Sharing
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 22, 2013 -- Today, realtor.com®, the leader in online real estate, operated by Move, Inc., announced an exciting new update to its free realtor.com® rentals app for iPhone, iPod touch and Android. With this enhanced version, users can receive notifications while within close proximity of a rental property they previously visited or marked as saved within the app. The app also offers photo upload and sharing features and has increased its listings by 22 percent since the app launched in May. Additionally, the app for iPhone and iPod touch adds support for iOS 7, becoming one of the first rentals apps to allow users to share content using the new AirDrop capabilities. Users with iOS 7 can use AirDrop feature to efficiently share listings and listing photos with other iPhone or iPod touch users in the same Wi-Fi network. "In the second quarter of 2013, realtor.com® listing detail page views from mobile devices grew about 60 percent year-over-year, and half of our listing detail page views overall occurred on a mobile device," said Scott Boecker, chief product officer at Move. "We understand the crucial role mobile devices play in searching for rental properties, and we continue to implement the latest technology in our app, including location-based listing notifications, so users have a multifaceted tool that simplifies the rental search process." The app extends realtor.com®'s commitment to providing users a comprehensive mobile tool to efficiently search for nearby rental apartments, homes, condos and townhomes, while managing the search process from end to end. With the update, the app can intuitively identify when users are near previously viewed and saved listings and send notifications to users on their iPhone, iPod touch or Android while the app is open. Renters can now use the app to upload photos and take notes while visiting properties and share their listings with friends and family through SMS, email or AirDrop. All photos and notes are saved and stored in the cloud, making it easy for users to access their photos and notes at any time. The rentals app also features 22 percent more listings since it launched earlier this year. The realtor.com® rentals app arms renters with the information they find most valuable, including rich images of listings. Users can filter listings they have viewed directly on a map or in a list, view and filter properties they have contacted and receive notifications when a new rental property fitting their specifications becomes available on realtor.com®. The realtor.com® rentals app delivers fresh, accurate and up-to-date listings as a result of realtor.com®'s unique, direct relationships with thousands of apartment communities and more than 800 multiple listing services (MLSs). With on-the-go access to this robust database and approximately 90 percent of listings updated every 15 minutes, realtor.com® provides the most accurate and comprehensive information in the industry. For more information or to download the free realtor.com® rentals app, please visit http://marketing.realtor.com/rental-app or by directly visiting the App Store or Google Play. About realtor.com® Operated by Move, Inc., (NASDAQ: MOVE), realtor.com® helps connect people with the content, tools and expertise they need to find their perfect home. As the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®, realtor.com® empowers consumers to make the smartest decisions when it comes to finding a home by leveraging direct connections with more than 800 MLSs to deliver the most accurate and up-to-date listing information in neighborhoods across the country, and by making timely and meaningful connections between consumers and REALTORS®. Whether through desktop, mobile, or tablet versions, realtor.com® is where home happens. About Move, Inc. Move, Inc. (MOVE), the leader in online real estate, operates realtor.com®, the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®; Move.com, a leading destination for new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden, and home finance; ListHub™, the leading syndicator of real estate listings; Moving.com™; SeniorHousingNet; SocialBios; Doorsteps®, TigerLead®; and TOP PRODUCER® Systems. Move is based in San Jose, Calif.

Homes.com® Expands Rental Footprint into Canada
  NORFOLK, Va. (September 25, 2013) - Homes.com®, a leading online real estate destination and sister site of ForRent.com®, is expanding its rental channel into Canada exclusively through RentSync from Landlord Web Solutions (LWS). LWS is a website design and online marketing company that caters to the Canadian rental industry. Beginning in early October, RentSync listings will be displayed on Homes.com Rentals, giving consumers the opportunity to search for rental listings from numerous Canadian property management companies. "We are thrilled to partner with a premiere Internet listing provider that is a leader in the North American marketplace," said Jason Leonard, co-founder of Landlord Web Solutions. "Homes.com's vision and understanding of the rental marketplace will help us enhance our serviceability to our wide range of diverse customers. They are an innovative Internet listing service with a strong and loyal customer base. We're excited about this partnership." Canadian property managers using RentSync will gain increased visibility and greater distribution for their rental listings on Homes.com and its full line of mobile products. In the coming months, distribution of RentSync listings will expand to Homes.com's sister site, ForRent.com, further increasing visibility of Canadian rental listings. "Homes.com is proud to partner with Landlord Web Solutions to syndicate RentSync listings to Homes.com Rentals in Canada. We are expanding our scope of listing content within the multifamily real estate market across the border," said Brock MacLean, executive vice president of Homes.com. "This new partnership gives Canadian property managers increased exposure for their rental listings, and allows Canadian consumers to easily search for their next house, apartment, condo or townhome on Homes.com." The Homes.com website recently released a cutting-edge parallax design and offers an intuitive map search for a user-friendly experience. Additionally, a "Commute Time" calculator using Bing's map search is available for all listings – giving estimated commute times at the time of search along with driving instructions. Properties on Homes.com are also viewable across the mobile website as well as on the multiple apps created for iOS and Android devices, perfect for conducting on-the-go home searches. Current RentSync customers will receive free syndication to Homes.com until March 2014 as part of a special offer from Landlord Web Solutions. About Homes.com® Rentals As one of North America's top online real estate destinations, Homes.com® Rentals inspires consumers to dream big. From affordable houses to luxurious estates, condos, apartment rentals and more, Homes.com features nearly 3 million property listings and a user-friendly format, making finding your next home easy. Visitors to the Homes.com blog will find a collection of rich content and posts on DIY projects, painting, organization tips and more, providing the ultimate resource for everything home related. From finding your first apartment to buying your first home, upgrading, downsizing and everything in between, Homes.com is an inspiring and engaging partner in every phase of the home buying or renting process. Homes.com is a division of Dominion Enterprises, a leading marketing services and publishing company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. For more information, visit www.dominionenterprises.com. About ForRent.com® As one of the nation's leading online home search destinations, ForRent.com® inspires renters to discover their next apartment, loft, townhouse, or condo. ForRent.com features rental listings in a user-friendly format, making finding your next home an easy exploration. Visitors to ForRent.com's apartment living blog, Facebook page, Twitter account and Pinterest boards will discover relevant content and can join the conversation surrounding their home decorating style, rental tips and more, serving as the complete resource for renters in every part of their living experience. About Landlord Web Solutions Landlord Web Solutions (LWS) is a Canadian-based, niche focused website design and online marketing company that caters exclusively to the multi-unit residential rental industry. LWS has quickly become a leader and trusted supplier in the rental housing industry. Over the past number of years, LWS has built outstanding websites and Internet friendly tools for landlords with portfolios ranging from 150 to 24,000+ units in Canada. Visit our website at landlordwebsolutions.com or rentsync.ca for more details.

Realtor.com® Launches Rentals App for iOS and Android
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 15, 2013 -- Realtor.com®, the leader in online real estate, operated by Move, Inc., today announced the launch of the realtor.com® rentals app for iOS and Android smartphones. With this new tool, consumers can now search nearby rental apartments, homes, condos and townhomes on their mobile phone, with approximately 90 percent of rentals listings data updated every 15 minutes. The realtor.com® rental app offers consumers a unique user experience through its photo-centric view. To efficiently present the information that many searchers consider most important – property photos – this differentiated view allows users to scroll through rich images directly from the search feed, thereby increasing navigation efficiency and presenting the most important information to consumers first. Users can also filter by listings they have viewed directly on the map or in a list, view and filter by properties they have contacted, as well as get notifications when new rentals fitting your specifications hit realtor.com. Using the app's intuitive tools, renters can sort and filter results that best meet their individual needs, like parking, in-unit laundry, pet-friendly listings and more. Over the last few years, realtor.com® has seen a surge in rental searches, resulting in a 56 percent increase in unique users looking for rentals on the realtor.com® website year-over-year. Consumers are also spending more time reviewing rental property pages on realtor.com® with a 47 percent year-over-year increase in rentals page views on the website. "This increased demand for rentals listings, paired with the demonstrated success of realtor.com® in the mobile space, made launching the realtor.com® rentals application a natural next step," said Scott Boecker, chief product officer at Move. "Realtor.com is focused on helping people love where they live — whether you're buying, selling, or renting a home. The launch of our new rentals app for iOS and Android takes this commitment to the next level, conveniently delivering our rentals experience to users on their handheld devices." In addition to the powerful search tools that the app boasts, the realtor.com® rentals app delivers accurate and up-to-date rental listings. Realtor.com® leverages its unique, direct relationships with more than 800 Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) and thousands of apartment communities to aggregate fresh, accurate listings, empowering renters to search with confidence and efficiency. Approximately 90 percent of the realtor.com® rentals listings are updated every 15 minutes, and the listings feeds are vetted by the realtor.com® team of data quality specialists, to better ensure that the app delivers listings that users can trust. With the realtor.com® rentals app, renters now have access to enhanced features, including: Photo-centric list view, which allows users to view all the images for a rental property right from the search results page Filter listings that have been viewed Quick access to properties that have been saved, updated or contacted Share listings via email or text message Draw a custom search enabling users to highlight an area right on the map Area scout, which populates new listings on the map as your geographic location changes Be notified when new rentals fitting your specifications hit the market and are posted to realtor.com® via push notifications View rentals in a list or on an interactive map that is automatically updated Sort properties by price, proximity, and recently updated Save searches and listings Add notes directly to listings For more information or to download the realtor.com® rentals app for iOS and Android, please visit http://www.realtor.com/rental-app. About realtor.com® Operated by Move, Inc., (NASDAQ: MOVE), realtor.com® helps connect people with the content, tools and expertise they need to find their perfect home. As the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®, realtor.com® empowers consumers to make the smartest decisions when it comes to finding a home by leveraging direct connections with more than 800 MLSs to deliver the most accurate and up-to-date listing information in neighborhoods across the country, and by making timely and meaningful connections between consumers and REALTORS®. Whether through desktop, mobile, or tablet versions, realtor.com® is where home happens. About Move, Inc. Move, Inc. (MOVE), the leader in online real estate, operates: realtor.com®, the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®; Move.com, a leading destination for new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden, and home finance; ListHub™, the leading syndicator of real estate listings; Moving.com™; SeniorHousingNet; SocialBios; Doorsteps, TigerLead®; and TOP PRODUCER® Systems. Move is based in San Jose, Calif.