Vend Q2 2026: Real Estate Margin Hits 58% as Group Revenues Stay Flat

Vend’s group revenues did not move in the second quarter, but its real estate vertical did. Revenues at the unit built around FINN rose 14% to NOK 431m while the group as a whole came in flat at NOK 1,696m, and real estate reached record profitability. For the second reporting period running, real estate is doing the heavy lifting at Vend (formerly Schibsted Marketplaces).

Highlights from Vend’s Q2 2026 report for the three months to 30 June 2026 include:

• Group revenues of NOK 1,696m, flat year-on-year, up 2% in constant currency
• Group EBITDA of NOK 674m, up 16%, with the margin up around five percentage points to 40%
• Real estate revenues of NOK 431m, up 14%, or 15% in constant currency
• Real estate EBITDA of NOK 248m, up 24%, an EBITDA margin of 58% against 53% a year ago
• Classifieds revenues of NOK 365m, up 13%, with professional up 15% and private down 6%
• Transactional revenues of NOK 45m, up 18%, on the Qasa and HomeQ rental platforms
• ARPA up 17% in the Norwegian residential-for-sale category, with Norwegian volumes down 3%
• Finnish revenues up 18% after the Q1 move to a subscription model

At 58%, real estate is the most profitable vertical in the portfolio alongside Jobs, ahead of Mobility on 53% and a world away from Recommerce, which is still losing money at the EBITDA line. It is also the highest quarterly real estate margin in the series Online Marketplaces has been tracking since early 2024, comfortably above the 53% posted in Q2 last year and the 41% Vend managed in Q4. Operating expenses excluding cost of goods sold rose 7%, well behind the 14% revenue growth.

The engine remains ARPA rather than volume. Classifieds revenues grew 13% on the back of a 17% rise in ARPA in Norwegian residential-for-sale, while volumes in Norway fell 3%. That is the same shape Vend reported in Q4, when ARPA in the category climbed 21% against a 4% volume decline. Pricing is still outrunning a soft listings market, though the gap is narrowing: 21% became 17%, and the volume drag has not gone away. How long yield can carry a vertical whose underlying volumes keep shrinking is the open question.

Two other lines did useful work. Transactional revenues rose 18% to NOK 45m, again driven by the Swedish rental platforms Qasa and HomeQ, continuing a push to earn from more of the housing journey than the listing itself. In Finland, revenues rose 18% after the shift to a subscription model in Q1, a reminder that Vend has been changing how it charges as much as what it charges. Private classifieds were the lone soft spot, down 6% to NOK 35m.

At group level the picture is flatter. Revenues were unchanged at NOK 1,696m against NOK 1,694m, with growth across the four verticals offset by the phase-out of transition service agreement revenues left over from the Schibsted separation. EBITDA rose 16% to NOK 674m on cost discipline, and Vend now expects its 2026 cost base to fall by around NOK 150m, up from the NOK 100m indicated at Q1. The first NOK 2bn tranche of a NOK 4bn buyback announced on 30 April is well advanced, with around NOK 1.6bn repurchased as at 10 July.

CEO Christian Printzell Halvorsen put real estate at the front of his commentary. He said:

“Real Estate had a strong quarter, with continued ARPA growth in FINN residential-for-sale lifting both revenue and profitability.”

The FINN migration to Vend’s common technology platform completed in Norway during the quarter, on time and without disruption, leaving Bilbasen in Denmark as the main outstanding piece pencilled in for 2027.