CoStarGroup, in an effort to continue the expansion of its global assets, has recently announced the acquisition of Belbex Corporate, the Spanish real estate information company. Following the acquisition, the new fim will be rebranded CoStar España. Former Belbex general manager Juan Menduiña will lead the new firm. Included in the acquisition is the firm's Madrid-based office database along with the company's Spanish commercial property marketing and network services.

Setting a Precedence for Global Expansion

The acquisition of Belbex marks the fifth country that rapidly expanding CoStar Group has entered, previously establishing a presence in the UK, Canada, and France, along with the United States. CoStar Europe plans to follow the same business model that has proven so successful and allowed the firm to achieve such high levels of growth throughout the United States and more recently in the International arena.

Currently, the Spanish economy is experiencing a strong recovery and is perfectly poised for greater information sharing combined with deeper levels of transparency. Increased transparency has historically proven to be beneficial in terms of boosting market size while also improving the performance of investors and real estate professionals, as better information tends to reduce risk. Recently, a number of investors, recognizing the potential available have begun to enter the Spanish real estate market. CoStar España will be a vitally beneficial tool moving forward, providing real estate professionals and investors with more readily available information regarding prospective deals.

CoStar Group, founded in 1987, has consistently evolved into a reliable provider of commercial real estate information, marketing services, and analytics. By conducting ongoing research, CoStar has been able to produce as well as maintain the most expansive and comprehensive commercial real estate information database. Bolstering the firm's services is a full suite of online services that allows clients to analyze and obtain unrivaled insight into commercial real estate market conditions, values, and current availabilities.

While CoStar Group is headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm also maintains offices throughout the United States as well as Europe. The recent addition of CoStar España helps to solidify CoStar's rapidly expanding global footprint.

Greater Investments Deliver Increased Revenue for CoStar Group

In light of the company's recent efforts to continue expanding overseas, CoStar has also recently announced that revenue during Q2 2015 was more than $170 million, representing an increase of about 16 percent over revenue of nearly $148 million. The firm cited strategic investments in the re-launch of Apartments.com as fueling such rapid sales acceleration during the second quarter. CoStar purchased Apartments.com last year at a price of $585 million. With the purchase of Apartments.com, CoStar was able to gain invaluable insight into the apartment rental industry, estimated to have a value of $2 trillion. In reference to its latest performance, CoStar went on to say the second quarter represented the best sales results in the company's history.

To date, CoStarGroup has not yet announced where it might plan a subsequent expansion, but based on the company's most recent expansion activities, the move into Spain will not be the company's last acquisition.