Redfin and Zillow Stock Slide Shows possible change in home listing landscape
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Stocks of real estate companies
red fin
and
zillow
The group fell on Wednesday following news of a potential shift in the home listings landscape.
red fin
(Ticker: RDFN) stock lost 8.5% to $5.66 late Wednesday, while
zillow
(Z) fell 5.3% to $42.25. The drop was bigger than the broader market: The S&P 500 lost 0.02% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%.
red fin
down as much as 10.02% on the day, while Zillow is down 7.75% during the session.
The stock’s volatility does not appear to be related to macroeconomic news about the housing market. Mortgage rates, a prominent factor in recent conversations about housing demand, have remained below a 2022 high above 7% in recent weeks, according to Freddie Mac and Mortgage Bankers Association data. . Lower rates likely contributed to recent get a raise in home loan applications, an early indication of a buyer’s need.
Two ETFs that track home builders and related industries,
ETFs (ITB) and
ETF (XHB), also rose on Wednesday.
Individual,
News Corporation
(NWSA), the company owns Barron’s Dow Jones parent company, confirmed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it is in negotiations with
costar group
(CSGP) on the possibility of selling Move, the company that runs the realtor.com home listing website.
Such an agreement would put Move at work at CoStar, a real estate information company known for its commercial real estate services. CoStar did not respond immediately Barron’s Request comments.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Ryan Tomasello wrote in a note Wednesday that the potential Move acquisition would be a “transformational” to CoStar’s strategy in residential real estate. The analyst’s Outperform rating for CoStar stock and his $98 price target are unchanged.
Realtor.com’s monthly visitors and brand awareness “will drive CoStar’s housing strategy for years, propelling the company to No. 2 housing portal position behind Zillow,” the analyst wrote. “.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the negotiations, reports that the potential deal is worth about $3 billion.
News Corporation
announce it redemption of Move in 2014 for approximately $950 million in an all-cash tender offer.
In
News Corporation
During its first fiscal quarter, there were an average of 86 million monthly unique users of Realtor.com, the company reports. Earnings Release. Redfin’s monthly visitors averaged around 51 million in the most recent quarter, according to a report. Earnings Release. In the most recent quarterly report, Zillow he said it had 236 million average monthly users in the third quarter.
The sale is not a done deal. “It is not possible to guarantee any transactions will result from these discussions,” News Corp said in a statement. regulations submit. A spokesman for News Corp declined to comment further.
But such a possibility could worry investors in companies like Redfin and Zillow, both of which have portals for listing homes for sale. Representatives for Redfin and Zillow declined to comment Wednesday on their stock movements.
Zillow and Redfin have outpaced the broader market this month. Year-to-date, stocks are up 32.3% and 35.7%, respectively, compared with a 4.5% gain for the S&P 500 and an 8.1% gain for the Nasdaq.
Write to Shaina Mishkin at [email protected]