CoStar acquires Zonda for $800 million to finalize its real estate data kingdom.

      CoStar Group is set to acquire Zonda, the top platform for new-home construction data and marketplace, for $800 million in cash. This acquisition addresses the final gap in CoStar’s extensive real estate data portfolio, which already includes commercial, multifamily, residential resale, and spatial data, accumulated through over 40 acquisitions totaling $7.3 billion.

      The acquisition, announced on Thursday, is expected to close in the latter half of 2026 and should contribute positively to adjusted earnings per share in its first full year. Zonda serves over 3,000 clients within the homebuilding sector, including many of the largest residential builders, developers, suppliers, and lenders across North America. The platform encompasses the entire process of new-home development, from land acquisition and construction forecasting to community marketing and online marketplaces, tracking over 500 housing metrics.

      Closing the new-construction gap

      For the past 15 years, CoStar has been building what may be the most comprehensive real estate information platform globally. Its CoStar Suite is a leader in commercial real estate research. Similar to other data platform operators consolidating their markets, CoStar has expanded methodically through acquisitions, completing more than 40 transactions amounting to approximately $7.3 billion during this time.

      Apartments.com now generates $1.1 billion in annual revenue. Homes.com, CoStar's residential brokerage marketplace, has increased its subscribers by 337% since the first quarter of 2024 and claims to be the second-largest and fastest-growing residential real estate marketplace in the U.S. In February 2025, CoStar finalized its $1.6 billion acquisition of Matterport, the 3D digital twin and AI firm.

      The strategy is evident. CoStar has leveraged its flagship product for commercial real estate, multifamily rentals through Apartments.com, residential resale via Homes.com and Matterport, and physical property data through Matterport’s spatial information. The gap in new-home construction is now filled by Zonda.

      Understanding Zonda’s role

      Zonda emerged from the 2018 merger of Hanley Wood, a B2B information services firm catering to the U.S. residential construction sector, and Meyers Research, which provides real-time market data for homebuilders. This merger was orchestrated by private equity firm MidOcean Partners, which rebranded the entity as Zonda in 2020. The $800 million sale to CoStar exemplifies a typical private equity exit within the SaaS and data platform industry, where specialized vertical data firms are created through roll-ups and sold to larger companies.

      Zonda offers three main products: subscription-based data and insights related to the new-home market, online marketplaces for new homes in the U.S. and Canada, and a range of software tools for virtual home evaluations, including visualization, customization, and tours. Its data service tracks everything from lot availability and permit activity to pricing trends and absorption rates at the community level.

      CoStar’s financial standing

      CoStar reported revenue of $897 million for the first quarter of 2026, a 23% increase compared to the previous year, with expectations of full-year revenue reaching $3.8 billion, an 18% rise over 2025. Adjusted EBITDA is anticipated to hit $770 million, an 83% increase from 2025, reflecting a 20% margin. The company has the financial capacity to handle the $800 million cash transaction with ease.

      However, CoStar's stock has not mirrored its operational growth, having dropped about 49% over the last six months, partly due to significant investment expenditures on Homes.com and general market hesitancy regarding the timeline to profitability for its residential segment. CEO Andy Florance has been actively purchasing shares, acquiring over 70,000 at prices between $34.67 and $36.00 earlier this year.

      The data monopoly issue

      With Zonda, CoStar will maintain dominant or leading positions in all key segments of the U.S. real estate market. Proptech startups developing AI-driven tools for real estate development, valuation, or investment may find that the essential data they require increasingly passes through CoStar's channels.

      This consolidation mirrors trends observed in other data-platform markets. A single operator holding the reference data for a sector can influence pricing, shape participants' perception of their market, and create switching costs that solidify its standing. CoStar argues that this integration enhances value: homebuilders utilizing Zonda data can list on Homes.com, monitor competitor pricing through CoStar analytics, and advertise to renters via Apartments.com, all within a unified ecosystem.

      The effectiveness of this integration in delivering value versus merely centralizing pricing power will be determined by execution. For the moment, CoStar has invested $800 million to secure that the future of real estate intelligence operates on its platform instead of others.

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CoStar acquires Zonda for $800 million to finalize its real estate data kingdom.

CoStar has purchased the new-home data platform Zonda for $800 million in cash, completing the final piece of a real estate information empire established through over 40 acquisitions amounting to $7.3 billion.