Zoopla Property Group has announced it will purchase Hometrack.co.uk, a leading UK provider of residential property market insights and analytics.
It’s reported that ZPG will pay £120m to acquire the business, which is the UK’s #1 automated valuation model (AVM) provider and one of the leading AVM providers in Australia.
Operational structure
Hometrack began operating in 1999 and has 55 staff working out of offices in London and Sydney.
The analytics firm generates over 20 million automated property valuations per year and provides residential property market insights, analytics, valuations and data services to over 400 partners including mortgage lenders, new home developers, investors, housing associations and local authorities.
In the year to 30 June 2016, Hometrack generated revenues of £15.5 million.
Once the acquisition is complete, the company will continue to operate as a standalone brand and platform with the team forming the cornerstone of ZPG’s data services business, which will be headed up by Hometrack CEO Charlie Bryant.
A relationship with data
“We have had a long-standing relationship with ZPG and share the same vision of using data to help our partners operate more effectively,” Bryant said. “My team and I are very much looking forward to helping develop ZPG’s data services business, further growing the quality and breadth of the services to our partners and cementing ZPG as the market leader for residential property market insights and analytics.”
Hometrack currently partners with 15 of the top 20 mortgage lenders in the UK as well as all 4 leading Australian mortgage lenders; its UK AVM is recognised by all the major ratings agencies.
Founder & CEO of ZPG Alex Chesterman, commented on the acquisition:
“We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Hometrack, the clear market leader in AVM services in the UK,” Chesterman said. “The deal gives us unrivalled capabilities to serve our estate agent and developer partners even more effectively with market-leading valuation tools and data intelligence to help them win more business. Hometrack is a perfect fit for us and I forward to welcoming Charlie and his team to the ZPG family.”
