LoopNet Announces Release of Property Comps 5.0 - Now With 25% More Commercial Real Estate Sales Comparables

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- LoopNet, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOOP), operator of the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace, today announced the release of its newly enhanced commercial sales comps database, Property Comps 5.0.  With this new release, LoopNet's industry-leading comps database is reporting dramatic gains in the number of commercial sale transactions reported, the amount of data available with each sales transaction, and the ease of finding that information.

The numerous enhancements to the product's data and functionality are intended to help real estate brokers, owners, investors, lenders and appraisers analyze property and market data more completely, and make better informed commercial property pricing decisions.

25% More Sales Comps

The Property Comps database has grown by over 25% in the past year and now contains over 1.5 million arm's length transactions.  As part of this expansion, Property Comps also includes over 23,000 REO/Bank Sold property sales, providing an important window into distressed transactions that may influence the pricing in the overall marketplace.  The fact that REOs accounted for 16% of all new comps that LoopNet has thus far recorded in 2011 indicates their growing influence.

More Data, More Photos

Significant new data has been added to individual comp records, providing users with a more complete picture of the property transaction and the property details at the time of sale.  Data enhancements include:  

• 35 New Data Fields — More owner and mortgage info, property tax & assessed values
• 60% More Comps with Photos
• 25% More Tax IDs, APNs and Deed Document Numbers
• 25% More Comps that include the original listing's marketing flyer

Better Search, Better Reporting

A more intuitive search design simplifies the process of finding comparable sales.  Property Comps 5.0 includes:

• Property Subtype Search Filters – Allows users to save time by targeting very specific search results
• Polygon Search – Allows users to custom-define a geographic area down to the street level, and save the results
• Six New Reports tailored to customer needs – Including comparison reports and listing broker call sheets

In addition to these enhancements, LoopNet continues to stress accuracy and timeliness of information, with over 50% of new comps added within two weeks of the sale date — usually even before transactions become public record.

"Our customers asked for these improvements and we listened.  Property Comps 5.0 is the biggest step forward we've made to make it easy for commercial real estate brokers, appraisers, and investors to easily find the detailed sales comps they need," said Hilary Jensen, General Manager of LoopNet's Property Comps business.  "We remain committed to innovating in this area, and to providing increasingly valuable products to our customers."

Search the new Property Comps database at www.loopnet.com/comps.

About LoopNet

LoopNet operates the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online with more than five million registered members and 2.6 million unique monthly visitors as reported by Google Analytics.

The LoopNet marketplace, available at http://www.LoopNet.com, covers all commercial property categories, including office, industrial, retail, multifamily (apartment properties for sale), hotel, land, specialty properties, investment properties and businesses for sale.  As of June 30, 2011, the LoopNet marketplace featured more than $450 billion of property available for sale and 6.7 billion square feet of space for lease.

LoopNet customers include virtually all of the top commercial real estate firms in the U.S., including Apartment Realty Advisors, Cassidy Turley, CB Richard Ellis, Coldwell Banker Commercial, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, Grubb & Ellis, Jones Lang LaSalle, Lincoln Property Company, NAI Global, Newmark Knight Frank, The Shopping Center Group and Sperry Van Ness.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding the anticipated benefits of and improvements to the LoopNet Property Comps product.  These statements are based on current information and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.  Actual events or results might differ materially from those in any forward-looking statement due to various factors, including, but not limited to, the impact of our pending merger with CoStar Group, Inc., including the possibility that the merger does not close and the risk of business disruption relating to the merger, the functionality of Property Comps 5.0, economic events or trends in the commercial real estate market or in general, our ability to continue to attract unique visitors to our website, our ability to continue to attract new registered members, convert them into Premium Members and retain such Premium Members, our ability to obtain or retain listings from commercial real estate brokers, agents and property owners, competition from current or future companies, our ability to receive timely and accurate sales data from our partners, seasonality, our ability to manage our growth and our ability to introduce new or upgraded products or services and customer acceptance of such services.  Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statement is contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Copies of filings made by us with the SEC are available on the SEC's website or at http://investor.LoopNet.com/sec.cfm.  LoopNet does not intend to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release that are based on information available to us as of the date of this release.

SOURCE LoopNet, Inc.