Trade Me seeks Commerce Commission clearance to buy real estate business Homes website

Trade Me chief executive Anders Skoe. Photo / Alex Burton

Trade Me has applied to the Commerce Commission for clearance to buy property business homes.co.nz.

The Commission said it got a clearance application from Trade Me Limited to buy 100 per cent of the shares or assets of PropertyNZ, which owns and operates the homes.co.nz website.

"Trade Me owns and operates an online marketplace and classified advertising platform. This includes Trade Me Property, an online platform for listing real estate for sale and rent. Trade Me also provides property information and data through its "Property Insights" microsite, and sells digital advertising services to advertisers, including real estate agents," the Commission said.

"The Homes.co.nz website is also a platform for listing real estate for sale, and provides property information and data. Like Trade Me Property, PropertyNZ sells digital advertising services to advertisers, including real estate agents.

A public version of the clearance application will be available shortly on the Commission's case register.

The commission says it will give clearance to a proposed merger if it's satisfied it won't substantially lessen competition.

Trade Me told the Herald this week it wanted to buy the web business. It said an offer was on the table for homes.co.nz, which says it has 1.8 million house listings and valuations on its site every month and has 24 employees.

Head of Trade Me Property Alan Clark said: "We've reached a conditional agreement with homes.co.nz to purchase their business. Homes has a great suite of tools for New Zealanders interested in property, that they've built up over the last few years."

The business would seek clearance to ensure the commission was happy there are no competition issues, Clark said.

Trade Me competes with NZME-owned OneRoof and the real estate industry's realestate.co.nz in the online listings market.

"We're confident the Commerce Commission will be happy with the purchase but we'll go through the process with them and know more in the coming months," Clark said.

"For now it is business as usual for both sides and we're not commenting further until we've heard more from the commission," he said.

PropertyNZ directors are Lower Hutt's Michael Gibbs and Wellington's Jamie Kruger, the Companies Office shows.

Spark NZ owns about 22 per cent of the business. Other shareholders are Kruger, Gibbs, John Holt, Darryl Lundy, Shane Bradley, Kathleen Heather, Richard Suhr, Colin and Maureen Gibbs, Ronel Steynberg and John and Maria Wikstrom.