StreetEasy is raising its listing fee from $3 to $4.50, the New York City-based subsidiary of Zillow announced today via its blog.
The initial introduction of the fee coincided with the launch of the New York City Rental Network, a platform that allowed rental agents to advertise listings across StreetEasy, Zillow, Trulia and HotPads — and soon Naked Apartments starting Feb. 1, 2019.
“The results exceeded our expectations,” Matt Daimler, vice president and general manager of StreetEasy wrote in a blog post about the recent changes. “Over the past year, we’ve seen a 60 percent drop in complaints related to stale or fraudulent listings on StreetEasy.”
Daimler said this is an important move for agents because it will ensure that their real listings are no longer diluted by fake ones. Since the launch, the network has seen a 40 percent increase in the number of messages sent to rental listings advertised on the network, according to the blog post.
The changes also come at a time when the New York City Rental Network has a stranglehold on the New York City apartment renting scene. According to the post, 85 percent of renters used a New York City Rental Network site in the last year.