Zillow Buys NY-Apartment Finder StreetEasy for $50 Million

For more than seven years, StreetEasy has helped New York City residents find a place to live. And real estate giant Zillow took notice. Yesterday, it purchased StreetEasy for a cool $50 million in cash.

“StreetEasy is an excellent strategic fit with Zillow, as we share a common goal: To help consumers become smarter about real estate by communicating comprehensive, unbiased information about apartments and homes,” Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff said in a statment. “StreetEasy is an incredibly strong and recognized brand in New York City, and complements Zillow’s dominant and growing national brand. We’re delighted to welcome the enormously talented and knowledgeable StreetEasy team on board.”

Though $50 million may seem steep, StreetEasy boasts nearly 1.2 million monthly users and could help Zillow transition into the rentals market. “Simply put, StreetEasy has cracked the code in New York,” added Rascoff. “They now have a local network effect where nearly every New York broker is active on StreetEasy because of the site’s large audience and comprehensive data.”

Zillow also announced that it plans to sell an additional 2.5 million shares of Class A common stock to generate funding for general business purposes, such as possible acquisitions or investments.