Zillow is now worth more than Realogy, the parent company of Century 21, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s International Realty.
Zillow clocked in at a hefty $5.31 billion at the end of trading on Friday, compared to Realogy’s $5.15 billion market capitalization.
That cements Zillow’s position as one of the most valuable companies in residential real estate, well ahead of its competitors Trulia and Move, Inc., which operates Realtor.com. Trulia is valued at $1.6 billion, while Move is valued at $576 million. A report earlier this week suggested that Trulia was positioning to buy Move for about $700 million.
Zillow’s stock has increased 153 percent in the past 12 months.
The rapid stock rise has surprised some industry watchers, in part because the company does not take part directly in the real estate transaction. (Tune in Saturday for the GeekWire podcast when we talk online real estate with Seattle Bubble publisher Tim Ellis).
Zillow’s audience is growing fast, with more than 80 million visitors checking out the company’s Web site and mobile apps last month. But the company’s revenue is a pittance compared to others in the residential real estate arena. Last quarter, Realogy reported $1 billion in revenue, compared to Zillow’s $66.2 million, a company record for the first quarter.
Zillow’s stock has been on a tear in recent weeks. It was just earlier this week that the company’s market cap passed the $5 billion mark, and Zillow’s stock doesn’t show any sign of slowing down, especially in the midst of prime home buying season.
The company recently launched a new “Coming Soon” feature that allows agents to build buzz for a property that hasn’t been put on the market yet. The feature is also supposed to help agents test a certain list price and see how much interest people would have in buying that property.
