Trade Me seeks approval to buy real estate site

Trade Me has applied to the Commerce Commission for clearance to buy property business homes.co.nz.

The commission said it received a clearance application from Trade Me Limited to buy 100 per cent of the shares or assets of PropertyNZ, which owns and operates the homes.co.nz website.

“Trade Me owns and operates an online marketplace and classified advertising platform. This includes Trade Me Property, an online platform for listing real estate for sale and rent. Trade Me also provides property information and data through its ‘Property Insights’ microsite, and sells digital advertising services to advertisers, including real estate agents,” the commission said.

“The Homes.co.nz website is also a platform for listing real estate for sale, and provides property information and data. Like Trade Me Property, PropertyNZ sells digital advertising services to advertisers, including real estate agents.”

Trade Me told the Herald this week it wanted to buy the web business, and said homes.co.nz has 1.8 million house listings and valuations on its site every month.

Head of Trade Me Property Alan Clark said: “We’ve reached a conditional agreement with homes.co.nz to purchase their business. Homes has a great suite of tools for New Zealanders interested in property, that they’ve built up over the last few years.”

For now it would be business as usual for both companies, he said.

PropertyNZ is 22 per cent owned by Spark NZ.

Trade Me competes with NZME-owned OneRoof and the real estate industry’s realestate.co.nz in the online listings market.