Analyze This... "Want to research net absorption across a REIT's portfolio? Need a list of every space leased to a national tenant? Searching for all properties less than 50% leased with six-month delivery dates?"

Andy Florance CEO, CoStar

These are the questions that Andy Florance, CEO of the CoStar Group, tossed out as he whizzed me around CoStar Property, his new web-based application set to launch at the end of the month. He stopped in San Francisco last week for a luncheon presentation to 250 real estate professionals. With annual revenues of almost $80 million, no debt, and cash reserves of $42 million, CoStar's Florance made a strong pitch to be the industry's "reliable partner."

CoStar Property, CoStar Comps, CoStar Tenant, and CoStar Exchange are all now web-enabled and integrated. So when you look up space availabilities, for example, you can easily see when a building last sold, for how much, and who the current tenants are. My Surveys is an online file cabinet where you can store searches as well as documents like proposals, leases, and reports. You can then provide selective access to team members, clients, and third party service providers, as you manage your transaction online.

You can search directly from a map by drawing custom shapes or dragging out circles. (In a future version, you'll be able to search directly from aerial photos.) CoStarAnalytics allows you to create your own customized submarket groups, even adding and subtracting individual buildings that you think relevant.

Wow, it's too easy to generate data! I'm smiling because in the "old days" a thick package of market statistics and pretty pictures evidenced hard work. With CoStarProperty a thick package may mean that you have not worked hard enough to limit your analysis to relevant issues. How ironic.

--Peter Pike