News Roundup 05/06: CoStar Pays $800M For Zonda + Testing Realtor.com's New RealAssist AI

Ed, Harvey and Simon get together for an overdue rundown of the latest news in portals and proptech.0:00 Intros0:39 CoStar board member renewals and activist investors.15:00 CoStar Investment in Wikicasa18:27 Square Yards Fundraise27:10 Zillow + Google Gemini, and the Consideration Phase

Shawn Mullahy, newly appointed CEO at Zumper, joins Harvey for a conversation about taking over from Founder, Anthemos Georgiades, and moving towards a new business and revenue model that fills houses faster.00:00 Intros and Zumper changes04:35 Zumper's strategic shift under new leadership10:08 AI Integration and Future Business Model17:02 Challenges in Lead Attribution and Customer Engagement22:01 Investor Perspectives on AI Innovation30:13 Transition from CRO to CEO and Team Dynamics36:00 Future Trends in Rental Markets and Closing Thoughts

Toby Chapman from OC&C Strategy returns to the PPW Pod for a follow-up on last year's debate around AI and real estate marketplaces. A year on from his "AI truck" prediction, Ed, Simon and Toby unpack why share prices are down 30-50%, whether portals are undervalued or were overvalued, and where the real existential risks actually lie.Chapters:00:00 Intro01:03 Has the AI truck hit? Investor markets vs operating performance04:49 Undervalued today, or overvalued in the past?07:54 OC&C research: where does the industry think the risk is coming from?12:12 Integrate with the AI labs (Chat GPT etc.) or stay out like CoStar & Airbnb?17:18 Why aren't portals shaping the AI narrative themselves?21:01 Simon's pushback: are we having the wrong conversation entirely?25:18 Will OpenAI build a vertical property portal? (Spoiler: probably not)29:00 The whole property buying journey — portals' real battleground31:01 Lead attribution, the trust dilemma & whose side is the portal on?38:00 The generational shift — are portals built for the wrong audience?42:29 Toby's counter: leaders double down, opportunity beyond search & discovery44:15 Wrap-up — reconvene this time next yearGuest: Toby Chapman, Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants — https://www.linkedin.com/in/toby-chapman-8a559a15/Presented by:- Edmund Keith — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/- Simon Baker — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbaker/

In this week's news roundup, Ed, Simon Baker and Harvey Hancock unpack CoStar's $800M all-cash swoop for new-homes data specialist Zonda, and share their first-hand impressions of Realtor.com's new Google-powered RealAssist AI search tool.Chapters:00:00 Intro00:52 CoStar Buys Zonda for ~$800M09:40 Realtor.com's New RealAssist AI (with Google)18:59 Can AI-Native Challengers Beat the Incumbents?30:06 Are Portals Building Search or a Decision Engine?CoStar Pays ~$800M for ZondaCoStar Group is acquiring new-home construction data specialist Zonda in an all-cash deal worth roughly $800 million — its first major acquisition since Domain in Australia and its first US deal since Matterport. The team digs into why "more data wins" fits Andy Florence's playbook, the flat market reaction, and the hard road from owning great data to delivering a stronger EBITDA margin. Unlike Matterport, Zonda is a profitable B2B business, so the question becomes which costs CoStar can strip out and which products it can layer on top.Testing Realtor.com's RealAssist AIEd and Harvey got a behind-the-scenes demo of Realtor.com's new conversational search tool, RealAssist AI — co-developed with Google and currently a whitelist-only beta. They cover what stood out: searching by affordability rather than price, "Google grounding" that pulls in third-party data, and a commute/lifestyle mapping feature. That opens a wider debate on the API costs of grounding every search in Google, whether AI-native challengers gain an edge by pricing those costs in from day one, and whether portals are really building search — or trying to own the comparison and decision phase before Claude or ChatGPT does.Presented by:• Edmund Keith — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/• Harvey Hancock — https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvey-hancock/• Simon Baker — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbaker/

In this week's news roundup, Edmund Keith, Simon Baker, and Harvey Hancock dig into Scout24's bet on becoming the first AI-native real estate marketplace, the escalating Zillow vs. MLS listings war, and Google quietly putting for-sale listings back at the top of search.Chapters:00:00 Intro01:48 Scout24's Agentic Future & Capital Markets Day17:13 Zillow vs. MRED — The Chicago Listings Fight27:32 Google Is Back In Real EstateScout24's Agentic FutureScout24's Capital Markets Day laid out a five-part vision for an "agentic OS" for real estate — moving from a traffic flywheel to an intelligence flywheel, from visibility monetisation to consumption-based monetisation, and from traditional search to AI-native front ends. The team unpacks the eye-watering €400m investment in data contextualisation (including the SprengNetz and Bouwfonds Geijssen acquisitions), what "trusted platform" really means in an agentic world, and the launch of Imopuncti — Scout24's digital currency for AI-based use cases now adopted by 60% of its B2B customers.Zillow Defends Its ListingsThe Compass/MRED standoff has escalated into a multi-MLS rebellion. After a judge restored Zillow's Chicago feed but also sided with MRED, a second MLS — RealTracs — has now threatened to pull Zillow's feed across Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Simon argues every intermediary in the chain exists only because the buyer-seller match is inefficient, and that warring factions of middlemen should be collaborating to grow the pie, not feeding the lawyers.Google Is Back In Real EstateGoogle has revived its for-sale listings experiment, surfacing properties from EXP Realty and CRMLS at the top of mobile search in seven US markets via House Canary. The team debates whether this is a real threat to Zillow (which claims ~80% direct traffic) or a much bigger problem for SEO-reliant players like Homes.com — and whether Google could ever replicate the model in fragmented markets like the UK or Spain.Presented by:• Edmund Keith — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/• Simon Baker — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbaker/• Harvey Hancock — https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvey-hancock/

In this episode of The PPW Podcast, Edmund Keith and Harvey Hancock are joined by Christian Printzell Halvorsen, CEO of Vend — the leading operator of marketplaces in the Nordics across real estate, mobility, jobs and re-commerce (Finn, Oikotie, Qasa and more).We discuss the sector-wide share price drop, the CEO's role as a salesperson for the company story, Vend's brand new autonomous AI native team set up to rethink the marketplace model from scratch, the "listings as gatekeepers" debate playing out in the US/Sweden/Australia, and where pure-play advertising stops being enough.Timestamps:00:00 — Intro01:15 — What is Vend? Nordic marketplaces overview (Finn, Oikotie, Qasa)02:53 — Q1 results & real estate performance04:21 — Living with a ~30% share price drop across the sector07:28 — The CEO as salesperson — telling the Vend story post-Schibsted spin-off10:48 — Shaping the narrative (the Zillow example)13:51 — Vend's new autonomous AI native team — outside the existing structure21:35 — Team size, mandate, and how it differs from the Department of AI23:25 — Bold or cautious? Comparing to Scout24's agentic OS announcement25:55 — Is the team a hedge against AI-native challengers?28:12 — Agents & brokerages as gatekeepers — US, Sweden, Australia31:33 — Beyond the marketplace: Dealer Hub and agentic pro tools35:45 — Multi-vertical advantages for AI experimentation41:03 — Pro customer relationships in a tougher monetisation era43:24 — Wrap up and the road to PPW MadridConnect with the team:Edmund Keith — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/Harvey Hancock — https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvey-hancock/Find more from Online Marketplaces at https://www.onlinemarketplaces.com

In this week's news roundup, the team unpacks Zillow's antitrust lawsuit against Compass and MRED, plus Q3 financial results from REA Group, Realtor.com and Rightmove.Chapters:00:00 Intro01:17 Zillow Sues Compass & MRED22:13 REA Group Q3 2026 Results30:28 Realtor.com Q1 Renaissance41:04 Rightmove Market UpdateZillow Sues Compass & MREDZillow has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Compass and Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), alleging the two conspired to threaten Zillow's access to listings in Chicagoland if it enforced its listing standards. Harvey, Simon and Ed dig into the philosophical seller-choice vs buyer-information divide, Zillow's spiralling legal costs ($20m incremental in Q2 alone), and why this is the latest sign that agents and brokerages worldwide are starting to push back against portal power.REA Group Q3 2026 ResultsREA Group posted $398m AUD revenue (+6% YoY) and $220m EBITDA (+11% YoY) at a 55.3% margin. But REA India had a disappointing quarter and is starting to look like a soft exit. The team discusses whether owning multiple portals across multiple countries is anything more than a PowerPoint dream, and what Australia's new tax regime around negative gearing means for transaction volumes.Realtor.com - Renaissance Or PE Sale?News Corp CEO Robert Thompson hailed a "renaissance" at Realtor.com - revenues up 10% to $148m USD, 261m monthly visits, 31% portal visit share. Ed wonders whether the unusually effusive CEO commentary is a signal News Corp is teeing the asset up for a private-equity sale.Rightmove Market UpdateRightmove held 8-10% revenue growth guidance and pointed to 2,500 technology releases, 43 live AI initiatives, and LLM referral traffic still under 0.5% (flat since end of 2025). Simon and Harvey debate whether the AI doom narrative is overcooked, or whether traffic is leaking to smaller agents instead of the portals.Presented by:Edmund Keith - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/Harvey Hancock - https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvey-hancock/Simon Baker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbaker/

In this week's news roundup, Edmund Keith and Simon Baker break down four of the biggest stories from the world of real estate portals.Zillow & Realtor.com Pre-Market PartnershipZillow and Realtor.com — long-time competitors — have announced a deal to share pre-market "preview" listings, forming a rival to the Compass-Redfin pre-market network. Unlike the Compass-Redfin arrangement (which is closed to outside brokerages), the Zillow-Realtor.com network is open to any brokerage that wants to participate, with a revenue share on offer. Ed and Simon debate whether pre-market listings are genuinely different from regular listings, who really benefits, and whether this is a stepping stone toward Zillow entering the brokerage space with its own agents.Square Yards FY2026 Results & IPO SpeculationIndian proptech platform Square Yards reported strong FY2026 results: revenue of approximately $223 million (up 48% year-on-year), gross profit of $51 million at a 23% margin, with Indian revenue growing 57% and now representing 88% of the group total. IPO speculation is growing. Ed and Simon discuss what makes Square Yards' multi-business-unit model compelling, and the long-running consolidation question in India's portal market.Vend Launches New AI UnitVend (formerly Schibsted Marketplaces, operating Finn.no and other Nordic classifieds) posted Q1 real estate revenue of $36.6 million — up 13% — with EBITDA of $17.6 million at a 48% margin. Alongside the numbers, Vend announced a new AI unit: a small, agile, independent team tasked with rapidly experimenting with fundamentally different marketplace offerings.Why Aren't Portals Talking About What They Do?Ed shares findings from a new OMP data project cataloguing five years of product innovation coverage: just five portals accounted for 32% of all coverage, Zillow alone at 12%, and 88% of the portals OMP tracks had zero coverage. He and Simon debate why so many portals stay silent about their product work, even as their market caps decline.Presented by:• Edmund Keith — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/• Simon Baker — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbaker/

Ed, Simon and Harvey discuss this week's news from the world of real estate portals. Costar Group moves past the investor dispute as it posts a 60th consecutive quarter of double digit revenue growth, Hemnet's results are impacted by its new business model, Scout24 incorporates Fotocasa into its reporting, 'pre-market' buzz arrives in the UK and Apartments.com.au has a new admirer.

Qingyang Chang is the founder at ConcreteAI, and the new holder of the title of Pitch Club winner for the PPW Bangkok conference. Qingyang joins Harvey for a wide-ranging interview covering the science and business behind ConcreteAI, cultural hurdles, expansion plans, educating the market...and a whole lot of concrete.00:00 Introduction to ConcreteAI and Conference Insights01:32 Understanding ConcreteAI's Technology and Methodology04:16 Understanding the Science and Applications for Construction Projects14:39 Business Model and Company Background18:03 Current Projects and Client Engagement22:34 Future Plans and Market Expansion25:15 Market Penetration and Challenges in Singapore33:15 Marketing Strategies and Building Relationships36:28 Leveraging AI for Operational Efficiency40:24 Balancing Current Operations with Future Growth45:34 Identifying New Markets and Strategic Expansion