FundingSource: Real Estate News
CoStar Q3: record $952M + $730M Vexcel buy — aerial AI for Homes.com parent
Original headline: “CoStar posts record Q3 but still faces sales force challenges” — Real Estate News, Oct 27, 2026
Real Estate News reports that CoStar Group (Homes.com, Apartments.com and commercial CRE data) posted record Q3 revenue of $952 million, up 14% year over year and above a $945 million forecast, while disclosing higher-than-hoped attrition on its inside sales team. On the same day CoStar announced a roughly $730 million cash deal to acquire Vexcel Group, an aerial-imagery operator that captures more than 60 million images a year; CEO Andy Florance said combining those images with AI could let CoStar observe and capture data on hundreds of millions of properties within 24 months, and the company also projected about $200 million in AI-driven cost savings next year. Other Q3 notes in the piece: 121 million average monthly unique visitors across CoStar sites, full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance raised to $820–$840 million, revenue guidance around $3.75 billion, the August close of the $800 million Zonda deal, Felix Kusch named Homes.com president, and after-hours shares near $30 versus about $32 at the close.
Our take (opinion & analysis, not reporting)
For US agents watching portal competition: Homes.com’s parent is doubling down on proprietary aerial + AI property data after already folding Zonda into the stack — ask whether richer imagery/data shows up as better listing presentation or buyer search on Homes.com before you change your syndication mix. Treat the $730M Vexcel figure and the “hundreds of millions of properties in 24 months” line as CoStar’s stated plan from the earnings coverage, not a live product you can demo tomorrow; close is still ahead and sales-force churn was a disclosed risk on the call. If you sell new construction, note Zonda is already inside CoStar — watch whether Homes.com and builder data start talking to each other more tightly.
Online discussion: no notable public discussion found yet (checked Oct 28, 2026).