Zoopla snaps up Hometrack in £120m deal

UK property portal Zoopla has agreed to a £120m deal for research analysis company Hometrack in an attempt to beef up its data services.

The popular website said the acquisition would create “the UK’s most valuable residential property resource” as it seeks to out-muscle rivals Rightmove and OnTheMarket to provide comprehensive price information for prospective home buyers and sellers.

Alex Chesterman, founder and chairman of Zoopla, said the deal would give the merged company “unrivalled data capabilities in the residential property market”.

“Hometrack is a perfect fit to develop our data services business”, he said.

The deal will include £108m of cash due on completion and £6m payable on the first and second year after the acquisition.

Last year, Zoopla snapped up The Property Software Group, the market leader in agency softwarem for £75m in a bid to attract estate agents to its online platform.

Hometrack generated £15.5m in revenues and £7.1m in earnings before interest, amortisation and taxation depreciation last year. It offers an “automated valuation model” (AVM), which provides an instant valuation on properties without the need to appoint a physical valuer to visit the property and give a verdict.

Hometrack is also one of Australia’s leading AVM providers.

Charlie Bryant, Hometrack chief executive said: “We have had a long-standing relationship with Zoopla and share the same vision of using data to help our partners operate more effectively.”