CoStar Expands Into Residential Construction With $800 Million Zonda Buy
CoStar Group agreed to acquire Zonda for $800 million in cash, adding the residential construction data and marketplace provider to its portfolio. Arlington, Virginia-based CoStar announced the deal May 29, marking its latest expansion beyond commercial real estate into housing-related segments. Zonda, based in Newport Beach, California, serves more than 3,000 homebuilders, developers, suppliers, and lenders through subscription-based data services and operates the NewHomeSource and Livabl online marketplaces for new construction properties. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026 and be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in the first full year.
New York-based private equity firm MidOcean Partners created Zonda in 2018 through the merger of Hanley Wood and Meyers Research, rebranding the combined entity in 2020. Zonda maintains a proprietary lot-level database covering new home communities, land development, construction status, and builder operations that integrates directly into customer workflows. The company reports 104 percent net customer retention, with most revenue coming from subscriptions. CoStar plans to pair Zonda’s Envision interactive home design platform with its Matterport 3D tour technology, which it acquired in 2025.
The deal extends CoStar’s strategy of assembling data and marketplace assets across real estate sectors, following its 2021 purchase of Homes.com for $156 million. CoStar already owns Apartments.com and has invested heavily in consumer-facing platforms, a move that drew criticism from investors D.E. Shaw and Third Point earlier this year over slow progress competing with Zillow. Third Point later sold its stake. CoStar stock has traded near its 52-week low of $31.36, and the company faces multiple antitrust lawsuits alleging monopolistic practices. The Census Bureau reports annual new residential construction in the U.S. approaches $1 trillion, a market larger than the combined rent rolls of institutional apartment and office sectors.
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