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A tough real estate market took a toll on Realtor.com in recent months, with the portal’s parent company reporting Thursday that revenues in the third quarter of this year dipped.
In total, Realtor.com parent Move Inc. brought in $140 million in revenue between July and September, according to a newly released earnings report. That number represents a 1 percent dip compared to the same period in 2023. Looking just at Move’s real estate business, revenue dipped 4 percent year over year.
Move is owned by News Corp, the same company that operates an array of non-real estate businesses such as The Wall Street Journal. In the report, News Corp attributed Move’s decline in revenue to “the ongoing impact of the macroeconomic environment on the housing market, which led to lower lead and transaction volumes.”
Thursday’s report also shows that revenue from Move’s referral business declined, though the report does not specify by how much. Like other consumer-facing real estate portals, Realtor.com sells leads to agents. Lead volume dipped 1 percent year over year, the report adds.
However, the report does note that the revenue declines were “partially offset by strong growth in seller, new homes and rentals, including the partnership with Zillow, and increased advertising revenues.”
Traffic to Realtor.com’s websites and apps grew 2 percent year over year during the quarter, the report states, hitting 77 million unique monthly visitors.
Robert Thomson
During a call with analysts Thursday afternoon, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson said that the U.S. real estate “market remains challenged” due to high rates. However, he added that the company expects “a rebound as those rates decline.”
“Our team is positioning the company for the rebound,” Thomson said during the call, adding that Realtor.com in particular continues to diversify its offerings.
News Corp also owns Australia-based real estate advertising firm REA Group. Thomson was more upbeat discussing that subsidiary, describing its performance of late as “excellent.” The report states that REA Group brought in $318 million in revenue during the quarter, a 22 percent increase.
“We are absolutely confident in the potential of REA,” Thomson added during the call.
REA Group recently tried to acquire Rightmove, the largest real estate portal in the U.K., but the deal eventually fell apart. During Thursday’s call, Thomson praised REA Group for refusing to overpay for the portal.
News Corp previously reported earnings in August. At the time, it revealed that between April and June, Move’s revenue declined 2 percent year over year to $143 million. The company attributed the decline to higher mortgage rates and macroeconomic headwinds.
Thursday’s earnings report comes at a challenging time for real estate portals. On top of the high rates and headwinds News Corp mentioned during its last earnings report, Realtor.com specifically is currently locked in a conflict with rival Homes.com and its parent company CoStar. Homes.com is the newer entrant into the space and claims to be the second-largest U.S. consumer portal, though Realtor.com has disputed that point.
After several years of verbal sparring — CoStar CEO Andy Florance was the most vocal participant — the conflict this year boiled over into litigation as well.
The rivalry likely has plenty more steam in it, but for now, the rise of a well-funded competitor simply means that there is more pressure than ever on Realtor.com.
Update: This story was updated after publication with additional information on News Corp’s earnings report, and with commentary from the company’s investor call.
