CoStar Group’s revenue soared to $1.66 billion in 2020, as the pandemic pushed more people to shop for real estate online, the company reported Tuesday.
While earnings rose 19 percent, the real estate data giant’s profits sunk thanks to the coronavirus closures in the spring. Net income plunged nearly 28 percent to $227 million for the full year. CoStar reported net income of $314.9 million in 2019.
Still, CoStar turned in a strong second half of the year as the real estate market rebounded. It notched $100 million in sales bookings during the latter part of 2020, including $49 million in net new sales during the fourth quarter.
Read more
Residential
National
CoStar fights $60M break-up fee after scuttled RentPath deal
Last year, CoStar acquired Ten-X, Emporis and Homesnap, although its deal to buy RentPath fell through after the Federal Trade Commission objected.
With $2.7 billion in debt and equity on its books, CoStar said it would double down on acquisitions in the coming year, particularly in the residential space.
Earlier this month, CoStar submitted a bid to buy CoreLogic for $6.9 billion, or 20 percent higher than CoreLogic’s previously-accepted offer from Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners. “This combination would triple CoStar Group’s total addressable market,” CEO Andy Florance wrote in a letter to CoreLogic’s board.
During an earnings call, Florance said there is “vast potential” to integrate commercial and real estate data tools.
CoStar said Apartments.com notched record results last year, with revenue of nearly $600 million, up 22 percent year-over-year. “We believe that our increased investment in marketing for Apartments.com in 2020 was a key driver in our performance and produced outstanding results,” Florance said in a statement. Apartments.com notched 170 million virtual tours in 2020, twice as many as 2019.
LoopNet also had a strong year with 20 percent year-over-year revenue growth.
CoStar projected revenue this year between $1.925 billion and $1.945 billion. It projected EBITDA between $640 million to $650 million.