Zillow will begin serving up its real estate listings to visitors searching for U.S. properties on the Chinese real estate portal Beijing Yisheng Leju Information Services Co. sometime early this summer.
As part of the exclusive partnership, Zillow, whose database is comprised solely of U.S.-based data, will operate a Zillow-Leju co-branded site that includes Zillow’s for-sale listings, premarket inventory and other real estate information translated into Chinese. Visitors who search Leju’s site for U.S. properties will be directed to the co-branded site.
With the partnership, Zillow takes its first step into the international market. Other U.S. portals, including Zillow competitors Trulia and realtor.com, and the global franchisors Re/Max, Century 21 Real Estate and Keller Williams Realty, have already been active in the space.
Realtor.com and Re/Max launched their international sites in 2011. That same year, Trulia began sharing its listings with the international real estate search site ListGlobally, the same site that syndication platform ListHub — owned by realtor.com operator Move Inc. — began partnering with in March.
“Brokers and agents with listings on Zillow are now able to reach Chinese home shoppers who are ready to invest in the U.S. market, with no additional cost or effort,” said Errol Samuelson, Zillow chief industry development officer, in a statement. “This is another example of how Zillow is continually providing new ways for real estate professionals to market and grow their businesses.”
Chinese buyers accounted for 12 percent of the homes sold in the U.S. in 2013, second only to Canada’s 23 percent, according to a 2013 profile of international buyers from the National Association of Realtors. Along with Canada, China represents the fastest-growing source of international U.S. buyers, the profile said.