WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CoStar Group, Inc. today announced the launch of a completely new ApartmentFinder.com, following the June 2015 acquisition of Apartment Finder and an intensive $30 million complete site rebuild.
According to a recent study of over 25,000 renters conducted by JT Turner Research, ApartmentFinder.com was already the second most preferred site for rental searches for U.S. apartment communities – just behind Apartments.com, another CoStar-owned site. CoStar Group acquired Apartments.com in 2014 and similarly invested in and re-launched that site, resulting in a doubling of site traffic, and positioning it as the number one most trafficked apartment site on the Internet.
“This industry has historically been poorly served by apartment websites that prioritize lead generation to a fault, subjecting renters to appalling user experiences. CoStar Group is doing something new, simple, and very popular. We start by listening to what renters want and we give them exactly that,” said Andrew Florance, CoStar Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
“Our market research tells us that across all income levels, 50% of all apartment moves are driven by economic considerations. Renters want great apartments, but they also want great deals,” he explained. “We’ve designed ApartmentFinder.com with software tools and content to empower renters to find great deals on great apartments.
“CoStar is building websites that renters love. If we earn the trust of renters, we believe we can deliver a greater quantity of more valuable leads to our advertisers.”
The new site was designed to meet renter preferences and demands.
- Renters can zoom into neighborhoods of interest and use tools to find apartments that are priced aggressively, are offering specials, or have recently dropped their rents – addressing renters’ demand for great deals.
- The new ApartmentFinder.com features 400% more listings – addressing renters’ demand for more choice.
- The site provides up to four times more content – addressing renters’ demand for as much information as they can get on apartment communities they are interested in.
- The new site is expected to have 50,000 new videos and 3D virtual tours and over 1.5 million images – more than six times more images than before – addressing renters’ demand for visual context.
- The new site delivers powerful map search tools and easy to use filters to help users target specific areas – addressing renters’ demand for the right apartment, in the right place.
- The redesigned site shows actual availabilities – combatting renters’ frustration with sites that don’t show current unit availability.
- Distracting banner ads were also eliminated – addressing renters’ demand for simplicity.
In order to let renters know about the powerful new site, CoStar Group has increased Apartment Finder’s marketing budget by 500% over the prior year.
ApartmentFinder.com advertisers will now benefit from an unmatched cumulative audience of 17 million unique monthly visitors across the Apartments.com network. In addition to Apartments.com and ApartmentFinder.com, the network includes ApartmentHomeLiving.com, as well as realtor.com®, doorsteps.com, and move.com.
Prior to its acquisition by CoStar, Apartment Finder printed and distributed apartment directories in cities across the United States. As the overwhelming majority of U.S. renters now have access to the Internet, print advertising guides have lost their effectiveness. Apartment Finder has stopped printing books, and CoStar estimates that every print reader lost has been replaced with more than 20 new potential Internet searchers.
For more information about the re-launch of ApartmentFinder.com, contact Becky Carr, Chief Marketing Officer, at (202)312-8455 or bcarr@costar.com .
About CoStar Group
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 10.0 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. Through an exclusive partnership with Move, a subsidiary of News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS ) (NASDAQ: NWSA ) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV), Apartments.com is the exclusive provider of apartment community listings across Move’s family of websites, which include realtor.com®, doorsteps.com and move.com. 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 the Apartments.com Network
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, the Apartments.com network of sites includes Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com, and ApartmentHomeLiving.com. Through an exclusive partnership with Move, a subsidiary of News Corp, Apartments.com is also the exclusive provider of apartment community listings across Move’s family of websites, which include realtor.com®, doorsteps.com and move.com. This offers advertisers one listing on one network, over six powerful sites. Apartments.com is supported by the industry’s largest professional research team, which has visited and photographed over 400,000 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 apartments than other apartments websites, and innovative features including a Polygon™ tool that allows users to define their own search areas on a map, and a “Plan Commute” 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. For more information: www.apartments.com .
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are based upon current beliefs and are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. The following factors, among others, could cause or contribute to such differences: the risk that CoStar’s investments in the multifamily industry, including the Apartment Finder site, do not produce or continue to produce the expected results when expected or at all; the possibility that advertisers do not gain exposure to the number of unique visitors stated in the release; the risk that the relaunch of ApartmentFinder.com does not produce the results expected or when expected, including increased traffic, increased leads, increased exposure, consumer satisfaction, better search results and sales; the risk that the number of new videos, 3D virtual tours and images differs from expectations or changes over time; and the risk that CoStar is unable to replace or continue to replace every print reader lost with more than 20 potential Internet searchers. More information about potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in CoStar's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, each of which is filed with the SEC, including in the "Risk Factors" section of those filings, as well as CoStar's other filings with the SEC available at the SEC's website ( www.sec.gov ). All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
