Moody’s purchase of Catylist bodes well forHouston
Catylist, the software provider behind the Houston Association of Realtors’ commercial real estate listing portal CommGate, was purchased Monday by the risk assessment firm Moody’s.
The association expects that to be good news for the commercial real estate market.
Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Catylist not only provides the software for CommGate and hosts the site, but also supplements the listings for offices, retail centers, warehouses and other commercial properties advertised on the site with additional data gleaned from public
and proprietary sources. For example, those who visit the site can see the nearby demographics or traffic counts for any property listing.
Sam Scott, the association’s director of commercial services, said that if Moody’s makes some of its own vast trove of data available to brokers through the soft
ware, it could result in more bang for members’ bucks. Stephen Tulenko, president of Moody’s Analytics, commented in a press release that buying Catylist fit in with Moody’s strengths and would expand the range of analytic solutions it could provide brokers.
Scott also hopes that some of Moody’s existing relationships with brokers across the nation could persuade more of those brokers to become
members of Houston’s commercial listing service.
“Catylist has been an excellent technology provider, and the Moody’s Analytics platform will bring additional resources, data and marketing reach to the commercial brokers that use the CommGate information exchange,” saidMario Arriaga, chairman of the association’s Houston Realtors Information Service, in a statement.