RealPage has inked a deal to acquire Buildium, a software-as-a-service real estate property management specialist, for $580M in cash.
Buildium’s software facilitates a wide variety of property management functions, including accounting, business operations, leasing, document storage, rental listing, Form 1099 e-filing and tenant screening.
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The move will expand RealPage's presence in the property management sphere, especially among small and midsized owners of multifamily and single-family properties, as well as associations (homeowners and condo) and smaller commercial real estate owners.
According to RealPage, smaller and midsized owners represent a considerable growth opportunity for its SaaS. The company estimates that owners of that size control about 50 million apartment units nationwide.
Buildium is already used by about 17,000 property owners worldwide, with about 2 million units under management. Not counting the acquisition of Buildium, RealPage currently serves about 7 million units worldwide.
"This is an area where technology is underutilized, and currently served by myriad point products," RealPage Chairman Steve Winn said in a statement. "Buildium in concert with RealPage enables us to reach deeper into that market."
RealPage plans to expand Buildium's property management platform with a number of new capabilities designed to improve the recovery of utility fees, enhance payment processing and expand insurance offerings.
Winn also said that the company will increase its investment in its Propertyware product, which is for larger single-family managers with complex property management and accounting requirements. Both Propertyware and Buildium will be open platforms, supporting third-party application integrations.
The deal is the latest in a slew of acquisitions in recent years for Richardson, Texas-based RealPage. A little more than a year ago, it bought SaaS company Rentlytics for $57M. Previously, it acquired Axiometrics, an apartment market data specialist, for $75M, as well as American Utilities Management for $70M.
RealPage has also bought Lease Rent Options for $300M, On-Site Manager for $250M, e-payment platform ClickPay for $218M and LeaseLabs for $100M.
The market for property management software is expanding. According to a recent report by Buildium, property management has been slower to embrace technology than other sectors of the real estate industry, but even so, tech adoption among property managers has increased by an average of 4% over the last year.
The tools that experienced the biggest gains in usage among property managers, according to the report, were accounting software (up 18%), document sharing (up 11%), client-facing web portals (up 8%) and digital communications (up 8%).
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