The red-hot U.S. housing market is helping Zillow, which posted strong revenue and traffic gains during the second quarter. The Seattle online real estate company posted revenue of $46.9 million for the quarter, a 69 percent increase over the same period last year.
But the growth, is coming with a cost, namely in losses, which piled up during the second quarter. Zillow showed a net loss of $10.2 million, primarily tied to $7.1 million in acquisition costs and increases in marketing and advertising spending. For the same period last year, Zillow showed net income of $1.3 million. The company’s growth rate also is slowing a bit, down from a growth rate of 71 percent during the first quarter of 2013.
Traffic topped 61 million unique users for July, an increase of 66 percent from the same month a year ago.
“The second quarter was a tremendous one for Zillow as our focus and investments delivered record revenue, traffic and Premier Agent growth,” said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff in a statement. “We’re executing to the long game and making great progress against our strategic priorities to grow audience and gain market share, grow our Premier Agent business, and grow our emerging marketplaces.”
The report followings earnings announcements from both Trulia and its soon-to-be-acquired unit Market Leader in the past week. Trulia actually grew faster than Zillow during the second quarter, posting a 77 percent gain in revenues as it brought in $29.7 million. It boasted 34.9 million visitors.
Shares of Zillow have been soaring in recent weeks, and are up more than 226 percent so far this year. The company, which saw its stock drop about 1.5 percent in after hours trading today, now has a market value of $3.1 billion.
