With Xceligent Gone, Brokers Fear A Dominant CoStar Could Raise Prices

The abrupt shutdown of property data company Xceligent Dec. 14 sent shockwaves through the U.S. commercial real estate industry, with thousands of brokers unable to access property information for deals they were working on and many in the industry growing concerned over CoStar`s potential monopoly status.

"The loss of competition at a level that prominent is certainly challenging to the industry," said CCIM President Robin Webb, an Orlando-based broker with NAI Realvest. "It eradicates the choice, and that`s not usually good for the buyer in any instance ... It certainly opens up the opportunity for abuse any time there`s a single player." ...

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RSK: I figured there would be backlash against CoStar creating it`s own monopoly by suing Xceligent out of business and into bankruptcy.But until there is another option the will slowly milk the small brokerage firms to a point where it may not be feasible to pay their fees. Larger firms will no doubt stay with them. Until the savior arises this is the only option. Possibly NAR could and should start a data base service...they formerly depended on Xceligent.