ditorial composite of two people reviewing architectural plans beside an aerial view of a residential development under construction.

CoStar completes $800 million Zonda acquisition to expand into new-home data

Written by Joseph Nordqvist

Published: 17:24, August 23, 2026

CoStar Group has completed its $800 million cash acquisition of Zonda, adding construction data, homebuilder software and two online marketplaces focused on newly built homes.

The transaction closed on 21 August 2026 after receiving the required regulatory approvals and satisfying other closing conditions. CoStar announced the agreement in May and reported the closing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Zonda generated approximately $170 million in revenue during 2025 and served more than 3,000 customers, according to CoStar. Those customers include homebuilders, property developers, lenders and building-material suppliers.

The company also reported an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23%. Adjusted EBITDA is a company-defined measure of operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and selected other items. It is useful for comparing operations, but it is not the same as net income or cash flow.

Zonda brings data from before a home reaches the market

CoStar already operates property-data services and marketplaces including CoStar, Apartments.com, Homes.com and LoopNet. Zonda extends that coverage further into the new-home construction process.

Its database tracks individual building lots, new-home communities, land development, construction status, sales and builder operations. Customers use the information when evaluating land, forecasting demand, deciding where to invest and managing sales.

The acquisition also gives CoStar control of NewHomeSource.com and Livabl. Both websites connect builders with people searching for newly constructed homes and provide information including floor plans, prices, incentives and virtual tours.

This combination matters because the business has two connected sides. Zonda sells subscription data and software to the industry, while its marketplaces bring builders in front of prospective buyers. CoStar believes its existing data, advertising and property technology can be sold to Zonda customers, and that Zonda’s products can be offered across CoStar’s larger customer base.

The price is about 4.7 times Zonda’s 2025 revenue

The $800 million purchase price is equivalent to roughly 4.7 times Zonda’s reported 2025 revenue. That is an MBN calculation, not a formal valuation multiple, because the closing announcement does not provide all the debt, cash and purchase-accounting information needed to calculate enterprise value.

CoStar is therefore paying for more than Zonda’s current sales. The case for the acquisition depends on recurring subscription revenue, proprietary construction data and opportunities to sell more services to both companies’ customers.

CoStar reported second-quarter revenue of $925 million, up 18% from the previous year. Residential revenue increased 33% to $444 million, while company-adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $184 million. Those figures show that Zonda is entering a residential operation that was already expanding before the purchase closed.

Management also plans to connect Zonda’s Envision home-visualization tools with Matterport, the three-dimensional property technology business CoStar acquired in 2025. The intended product combination remains a plan rather than a completed integration.

Integration now becomes the test

CoStar has described the US new-home market as representing approximately $400 billion in annual sales, but that figure and the expected commercial benefits are company estimates.

The closing release did not quantify expected cost savings or provide a timetable for combining the businesses. CoStar’s own risk statement identifies integration costs, employee retention, housing-market cycles and the ability to maintain traffic across its online marketplaces as factors that could affect the outcome.

The acquisition is complete, but the return on the $800 million outlay will depend on whether CoStar can connect Zonda’s specialist builder data with its larger property-information and marketplace network without weakening the products that made Zonda useful to its existing customers.

Joseph Nordqvist Avatar

Other News

What makes a product vintage, and why the distinction matters to retailers

Nov 15, 2026

EU business social media use rises, but a gap remains by company size

Nov 15, 2026

Why startups may benefit from testing locally before expanding abroad

Nov 14, 2026

Novel product ideas can be harder to try but more rewarding afterward

Nov 14, 2026

What is in an online cart can influence whether shoppers check out

Nov 14, 2026

Subscription plans can miss customers who would save money, Lyft research finds

Nov 14, 2026

Workers with worse shifts than their colleagues were more likely to leave, restaurant study finds

Nov 14, 2026

More product options do not always reach more customers, cosmetics study finds

Nov 14, 2026

EU household spending grew in 2025 as communication purchases led gains

Nov 13, 2026

Ad experiments can help predict which campaigns drive additional sales

Nov 13, 2026

Browser choice screens lifted Firefox usage in Europe, researchers find

Nov 13, 2026

Online product rankings can cut shipping costs without reducing sales, experiment finds

Nov 13, 2026

Large companies lead EU service exports, but smaller firms dominate in some markets

Nov 13, 2026

Cart reminder timing is linked to different shopper responses

Nov 12, 2026

AI labels changed how consumers judged food images in three experiments

Nov 12, 2026

Shared AI tools were linked to higher sales for small online sellers

Nov 12, 2026

An image ad people like may not be the one they remember

Nov 12, 2026

Upfront rental prices changed competition as nightly rates rose in a study

Nov 12, 2026

Showing payment options earlier can influence online purchase decisions

Nov 11, 2026

Cash-back offers for positive reviews brought more responses but fewer repeat purchases

Nov 11, 2026