MORGANTOWN, W. Va. and BEIJING, Feb. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ListHub, the leading distributor of property listings in the U.S. and international publisher websites and foremost provider of performance metrics in real estate operated by Move, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE), announced an expansion of their agreement with EdenHome to add SouFun Holdings Limited (NYSE: SFUN), the leading real estate portal in China, to the ListHub Global network, providing U.S. listings to Chinese buyers via the ListHub Global platform. The new collaboration gives agents and brokers the ability to market their listings to international buyers in China, and provides a critical link to one of the most significant sectors of the foreign investment market.
SouFun, China's fastest growing real estate listing portal, maintains a database containing real estate related content for more than 336 cities in China as well as close to 100 offices focusing on local markets. With this agreement, SouFun is bringing the U.S. housing market to Chinese buyers through internet portals highly focused on user experience.
EdenHome operates the international real estate search for dozens of websites around the world, now including SouFun. EdenHome's network includes 25 portals in 21 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. The EdenHome Network is available to US brokers and agents through ListHub's Global Platform.
"ListHub's goal is not only to help agents and brokers market listings to prospective homebuyers in the U.S., but also worldwide, reaching foreign buyers who are looking to make an investment," said Luke Glass, general manager of ListHub. "The ListHub Global platform provides rigorous listing protections for distributed listings regardless of geographic borders, and our integration with SouFun allows Chinese buyers to discover available homes abroad within their familiar real estate search portal."
"The new agreement expands SouFun's ability to provide the most comprehensive service to Chinese agents and their clients interested in US homeownership," said Liu Jian, chief operating officer of SouFun. "It enables the Chinese buyer interested in expanding home investment opportunities outside the country to compete effectively in the U.S. marketplace."
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2013 Profile of International Home Buying Activity reports that China represents the second largest group of foreign home buyers, after Canada, comprising 12 percent of foreign purchases of U.S. real estate in 2012. It also has been one of the fastest-rising international investment markets, increasing 140 percent since 2007.
Many purchases were made possible through the U.S. government's EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, which has been largely dominated by buyers from China – nearly 80% of all EB-5 visas went to Chinese nationals in 2012, according to the U.S Department of State.
The rise in interest in U.S. properties from Chinese buyers in recent years has been fueled in part by the opportunity to own land outright in the U.S. In addition, recent restrictions on multiple-property ownership in China designed to help curb housing prices there have broadened the appeal of overseas investment.
The technical integration relating to the agreement is underway, with active listing content slated to launch in February, 2014.
About SouFun
SouFun operates the leading real estate Internet portal in China as measured by the number of page views and visitors to its websites. Through our websites, we provide marketing, e-commerce, listing and other value-added services for China's fast-growing real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors. Our user-friendly websites support active online communities and networks of users seeking information on, and other value-added services for, the real estate and home-related sectors in China. SouFun currently maintains about 100 offices to focus on local market needs and its website and database contains real estate related content covering more than 336 cities in China. For more information about SouFun, please visit http://ir.soufun.com.
About ListHub
ListHub™ is operated by Move, Inc., (NASDAQ: MOVE), the leader in online real estate. ListHub provides a platform to MLSs and real estate brokers to effectively manage every aspect of advertising listings online, including tools for making informed advertising choices, flexible options for routing consumer traffic and leads, and reporting for accurately measuring the results of their online marketing. Listing information is kept up-to-date to provide today's homebuyers with the most accurate information available from the MLS. ListHub is the leading platform nationwide for listing management, serving more than 50,000 brokerage firms, and synchronizing listing information from over 450 data sources with more than 125 publisher websites. www.listhub.com
About Move, Inc.
Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE), the leader in online real estate, operates: realtor.com®, the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®; Move.com, a leading destination for new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden, and home finance; ListHub™, the leading syndicator of real estate listings; Moving.com™; SeniorHousingNet; SocialBios; Doorsteps®, TigerLead®; Top Producer® Systems and FiveStreet, Inc. Move, Inc. is based in San Jose, Calif. http://marketing.move.com
CONTACT: Christie Farrell, 408-558-7115, christie.farrell@move.com
SOURCE ListHub