Global vacation rental website operator HomeAway Inc. reports it boosted third-quarter revenue by nearly 37 percent from a year ago to $61.1 million. The Austin, Texas-based company said paid listings grew 22 percent from a year ago, to 626,528.
The company launched "pay-for-performance" pricing on HomeAway.com, enabling customers to pay more to rank higher in search results. The tiered pricing is expected to boost average revenue per listing, which was up 6.7 percent from a year ago to $335.
Net income totaled $2.7 million, but the company posted a $4.1 million net loss for the quarter after recognizing a $6.8 million hit to the bottom line from preferred stock dividends and discount accretion. HomeAway no longer has any preferred stock outstanding.
HomeAway’s U.S. websites include HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com. HomeAway.com and VRBO.com now employ a Reservation Manager that helps property owners and managers streamline inquiries and payments and accept credit cards and eChecks.
The company said it migrated its French website, Abritel.fr, to the HomeAway network platform as part of ongoing network consolidation efforts. In the United Kingdom, HomeAway initiated bundled pricing, allowing property owners and managers to purchase listings on both HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk.
HomeAway went public in July, just days before Zillow. The company currently has a market capitalization of roughly $2.7 billion — triple that of Zillow’s capitalization and roughly 10 times that of Realtor.com operator Move Inc.
HomeAway management said the company expects 2011 revenue to be in the range of $229 million to $229.5 million.
Move Inc., meanwhile, which operates the popular Realtor.com online real estate search site, announced in its second-quarter results that it expects 2011 revenue to range between $192 million and $195 million.
In its last quarterly report to investors, Zillow said it generated $27 million in revenue in the first half of 2011, with second-quarter revenue up 116 percent from a year ago to $15.8 million. Zillow and Move Inc. are not direct competitors to HomeAway.
