Belgian Market Leader Immoweb Acquires Rival Realo

The market-leading Belgian real estate portal Immoweb has announced a deal to acquire rival portal and specialist appraisals data specialist Realo for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2014 by entrepreneurs Lorenz Bogaert, Toon Coppens, Nicolas van Eenaeme, and Vincent Verlee, Realo is a consumer-facing real estate portal that distinguishes itself through its extensive data resources. Aside from providing leads for agents, the company provides 'data as a service' and is among the leading providers of housing appraisals in the Belgian market.

Speaking about the deal, Vincent Verlee, managing director of Realo, said:

"Joining forces with Immoweb offers Realo the opportunity to further position itself as the reference for real estate data and estimates in Belgium. This is a logical step that will enable Realo to to increase our effectiveness to reach a broader audience and grow faster."

In a joint press release, the companies said that the services of Immoweb and Realo would be unaffected by the deal in the short term but that they plan to work on releasing new products.

Immoweb is owned by the Axel Springer subsidiary AVIV Group which also owns and operates SeLoger and MeilleursAgents in France, Immowelt in Germany and Yad2 in Israel.

With the acquisition of Realo, the Belgian market has effectively been consolidated into two rival interests. Immoweb and Realo will compete with Mediahuis-owned Zimmo, which recently bought up its rival Logic-Immo Belgium.