Keller and Florance on ‘phenomenal’ market share, Homes.com future 

CoStar Group's Homes.com search portal has seen a massive bump in traffic over the past year — but are any particular brokerage companies benefiting from that growth?

Yes, says CoStar CEO Andy Florance: Keller Williams.

Florance was on the stage with Keller Williams Co-founder Gary Keller this week at the company's 2024 Mega Agent Camp, and the two leaders discussed KW's presence on Homes.com and some of the divisive opinions around CoStar and its brands. 

KW + Homes.com: Florance noted that Keller Williams has been the biggest adopter of Homes.com and captured the largest market share on the site during the second quarter following the portal's Super Bowl advertising blitz.

According to Homes.com data, Keller Williams listings and agents accounted for 17% of clicks on either a listing or an agent bio page — more than the next three companies combined.

"That's just phenomenal," Florence said.

CoStar's "Death Star" reputation: Keller brought up the "Death Star" nickname used by some detractors when referring to CoStar Group, asking Florance why he thinks there are so many haters out there. 

On the commercial side, Florance said they've invested heavily in their products — and created a lot of value — which has led to some animosity because no one likes a single dominant player.

A future brokerage? Florance also suggested there's a certain amount of paranoia in both the commercial and residential real estate industries that CoStar will decide to become a brokerage — a move the company hasn't made in its 40 years of business and doesn't intend to make now.

"I don't think people fully understand how our objective is different from some of those folks that people are used to," Florance said, referring to the company's "your listing, your lead" philosophy. 

"Our primary focus is creating marketing exposure for the properties to give the agents a leg up… to help differentiate themselves."