8:15 a.m., Aug. 19: Real estate information giant Zillow will pay $50 million to acquire New York City-based listings site StreetEasy, the company announced this morning. The all-cash transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks. The deal will give Zillow access to StreetEasy’s 1.2 million unique monthly visitors, primarily prospective homebuyers in the New York region, according to the statement.
“Simply put, StreetEasy has cracked the code in New York,” said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff in a statement, adding that “we share a common goal: to help consumers become smarter about real estate by communicating comprehensive, unbiased information about apartments and homes.”
StreetEasy co-founder Michael Smith, who kicked the site off in 2006, said he was “very excited to be joining forces with Zillow, the largest national brand in mobile and online real estate, as we continue our commitment to data integrity, innovation and collaboration with the local real estate community,” in the statement.
In May 2012, Zillow paid $40 million for San Francisco-based rental management company RentJuice, and in November of the same year, shelled out $16 million to acquire rival HotPads.– Hiten Samtani