HomeAway Launches HomeAway Real Estate

AUSTIN, Texas, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeAway, Inc., the world's leading online vacation rental marketplace, today announced the launch of HomeAway Real Estate, the first online marketplace dedicated to buying, selling and identifying vacation homes with rental potential. HomeAway® now provides second home owners with comprehensive services for the lifecycle of their vacation properties.  

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With more than 200,000 vacation homes for sale on the site, HomeAway Real Estate offers an expansive marketplace of vacation homes for sale, providing brokers and agents with the only specialized marketing channel designed to reach the millions of HomeAway customers potentially in the market for vacation homes.  The site provides home sellers and real estate agents with unique information that highlights a property's rental income potential and vacation-specific characteristics.  

As the vacation home real estate market shows signs of recovery and more people rely on the Internet for their purchase decisions, the launch of the site is especially timely. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey released in late March, vacation home sales are up nearly 8 percent with prices up 13 percent, following three years of declines.

The NAR report also found nearly a third (32 percent) of vacation home buyers are first looking online for properties for sale, up from 22 percent in 2008, and one out of four (26 percent) vacation home buyers found their home on the Internet, up from 21 percent in 2008.

"HomeAway Real Estate helps sellers maximize the sale price of their second homes, buyers find the best vacation home for their needs, and real estate agents do more business thanks to highly-qualified leads," says HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples.  "With a database of 300 million travelers who come to our site annually and 475,000 paid vacation rental listings across our sites, HomeAway Real Estate members instantly benefit from our users who understand the value of vacation homes."

About HomeAway, Inc:

HomeAway, Inc., based in Austin, Texas, is the worldwide leader in online vacation rentals, representing more than 475,000 paid vacation rental home listings throughout 120 countries.  HomeAway offers an extensive selection of vacation homes that provide travelers with memorable experiences and benefits, including more room to relax and added privacy, for less than the cost of traditional hotel accommodations.  The company also makes it easy for vacation rental owners and property managers to advertise their properties and manage bookings online.  The HomeAway portfolio includes the leading vacation rental websites HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil.  The company's portfolio also includes HomeAwayRealEstate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation rental's income potential and destination-specific characteristics.

In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, the most comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties, providing travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels.  For more information about HomeAway, please visit www.HomeAway.com.

SOURCE HomeAway, Inc.