CoStar
Last Updated
Key Takeaways
Generated from the text of customer reviews
CoStar is a commercial real estate (CRE) information and analytics software. It supports brokers, investors, lenders, and occupiers. Commercial real estate benefits most, particularly teams using market insights to support property and investment decisions. Users value its data and ease of use, while some report slow performance and reporting limitations. Recent vendor updates include the CoStar Platform launch in France with local data and analytics.
Our Verdict
CoStar is a reliable option for real estate teams that rely on market research and property analysis for daily decisions. Organizations involved in commercial property investment, asset management, and portfolio management can preferably consider this software. Pricing is premium and might be bit higher for smaller organizations. It is recommended for established CRE teams that can justify the investment.
CoStar Specifications
- Tenant Management
- Lease Management
- Reporting And Analytics
- Alerts/Notifications
What Is CoStar?
CoStar is a Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Insights, News, and Analytics platform. This software helps real estate professionals stay updated about commercial properties and make meaningful decisions through leading analytics. It is an all-in-one solution for real estate marketplaces, such as selling a property, buying, or leasing it. Brokers can also represent tenants by using market and tenant data to identify suitable commercial spaces for their clients. Additionally, the platform supports professionals managing diverse portfolios.
What is CoStar Best For?
CoStar stands out for its “Market Analytics” feature, which helps professionals access summarized real market research. Its powerful analytics module helps overview trends and forecast future performance for a market, submarket, and custom property set globally. The system has appointed more than a thousand people to extract factual and advanced real estate information. Overall, users can save time when assessing vacancies, construction, and rental trends across multiple economic scenarios.
How Much Does CoStar Cost?
The pricing for CoStar can be estimated at $3,000–$23,000/user/year, based on the industry benchmark and can vary by market coverage, number of users, contract length, and customer type.
In addition to the base subscription costs, organizations should account for the following expenses:
- Additional Data Modules: $2,000 to $8,000 per module year
- Multi-User Team Licensing: $10,000 to $40,000 year
- Integrated Add-On Solutions: $3,000 to $10,000 year
- Contract Renewal Increases: $500 to $3,000 added per renewal cycle
Reviewers for CoStar overall note its pricing as being on the higher end. Some mention that its high cost may lead them to consider other options. Smaller businesses particularly highlight it as a costly option, though they also acknowledge the value it provides.
Disclaimer: Pricing references are based on publicly available third-party information and industry benchmarks. Actual costs may vary.
CoStar Integrations
The vendor has not provided details about third-party integrations for this software.
How Does CoStar Works?
Following are the steps to get started with the platform:
- Log in to your CoStar account to access the subscriber platform based on your role (broker, owner, occupier, appraiser, or hotelier)
- Search property records to review building details, ownership, tenant occupancy, and portfolio composition for a specific asset or market
- Review listings and lease activity to check available space, lease terms, and recent transactions across the markets you cover
- Track sales and lease comps to compare pricing, buyers, sellers, and transaction details for similar properties
- Analyze market and submarket trends to review vacancy, rents, construction, and KPI data against historical patterns
- Set up saved searches and alerts to get notified of new listings, tenant moves, or lease expirations that match your criteria
- Generate reports to summarize findings for underwriting, client advising, or portfolio-level decisions
Who Is CoStar For?
The software can be used by various professionals and teams in the real estate market, such as the following:
- Hoteliers
- Brokers and agents
- Appraisers
- Owners and investors
- Occupiers
CoStar Use Cases
Based on our analysis of CoStar features, we have identified some key scenarios where this platform is a strong fit:
Commercial Real Estate Brokers Generating Leads
Commercial real estate brokerages can use CoStar to identify clients and uncover new business opportunities. The platform provides access to property, tenant, ownership, and market data that can be incorporated into customized reports and presentations. This is useful for brokers to support prospecting efforts with relevant market intelligence and dedicating more time to relationship building and client acquisition.
Businesses And Real Estate Teams Assessing Expansion Locations
Businesses, franchise operators, and corporate real estate teams consider this software to assess locations for expansion. It provides demographic information, rental rates, tenant activity, and market trends. These insights help real estate professionals compare markets, evaluate site performance, and make location planning decisions.
Commercial Lenders Analyzing Deals And Financing Opportunities
Commercial lenders prefer this platform to research properties, evaluate market conditions, and identify financing opportunities. The time spent gathering information from multiple sources can be reduced through access to comprehensive property and transaction data. This can support underwriting, improve deal evaluation processes, and help lenders move opportunities through the pipeline efficiently.
Real Estate Investors Evaluating Investment Opportunities
CoStar supports acquisition and portfolio growth strategies for real estate investors and private equity firms. It helps them hunt for investment spaces through market intelligence, property data, transaction history, and ownership information. By evaluating opportunities across multiple markets, investment teams can better assess risk and compare assets.
Is CoStar Right For You?
Are you a broker looking to grow a business with real-world scenarios? CoStar helps you identify potential partners, market investment opportunities, and appraise property values. Its property and market data also help brokers with research opportunities and prepare useful client recommendations.
The software also aligns with PCI DSS and ISO/IEC 27001 standards for trusted security. Organizations like Marcus & Millichap and NRG Realty Group logged into CoStar for advanced commercial real estate insights.
Still doubtful if CoStar is the right fit for you? Connect with us at (661) 384-7070 for further guidance.
CoStar Features
Property Records
CoStar software provides a close view of commercial properties around many asset types such as retail, hospitality, and multifamily. Real estate researchers can explore properties through 3D tours, review ownership, and prior sales history to assess opportunities. This also helps professionals to overview performance and keep up with current real estate trends.
Listings
The system allows brokers to conduct proper research with details to find properties for sale or lease. Users can showcase listings or explore markets for availability data anytime. The software has also made the process easy with mobile app for professionals to close deals from anywhere.
Tenants
The platform offers complete analysis on commercial tenants including space usage, company details, and current leases. Through tenant locations, users can find relevant contact information and identify potential clients. It also helps professionals view a company’s real estate portfolio and provide them tools for research, locate, and prospect at the corporate account level.
Fund Data
This tool is useful for analyzing private equity funds alongside their underlying assets. The software allows access to many investment funds, including transaction history, sale listings, and key contacts. Users can identify opportunities, connect, and evaluate portfolio performance to close better deals.
Sales Comps
CoStar’s sales comps provide access to sales transaction data for supporting market analysis and property value. It is useful to research sale comparables, check buyer and seller information, and find active dealmakers. The platform also includes tax assessments, loan information, and ownership history for crucial information.
Pros And Cons of CoStar
Pros
Get insights to evaluate loan data
Receiving alerts and saving searches made easy with listing
Target specific location through map layers
Detailed analysis on lease information
Identify patterns and performance through rent benchmark
Cons
Exporting data can be overly restrictive
High data stream can sometimes lead to clutter
Limited flexibility in customization options
CoStar Reviews
Total 13 reviews
4.5
All reviews are from verified customers
Rating Distribution
5
Stars62%
4
Stars23%
3
Stars15%
2
Stars0%
1
Stars0%
Share your experience
Medical Devices, 11-50 employees
More than a year
“lease management done right”
Pros
There's a very comprehensive guide built into the program for lease management, including the documents you need which has been really helpful.
Cons
It has made property management much more efficient and I haven't run into any issues with it.
Rating Distribution
Ease of use
10
Value for money
10
Customer Support
10
Functionality
10
Environmental Services, N/A employees
More than a year
“solid lead lists for sales”
Pros
LeadGrabber Pro is easy and simple to use and it puts together really strong lead lists that can turn into sales.
Cons
It would be better if it could grab data from a wider range of websites. The daily grab limit of 500 also feels too low and should be increased.
Rating Distribution
Ease of use
8
Value for money
7
Customer Support
8
Functionality
7
Restaurants, 500+ employees
More than a year
“Top-notch knowledge base”
Pros
The knowledge database is one of the best I've worked with. The ETL tools have been really useful for handling mass updates and user management becomes pretty easy once you learn how it works.
Cons
One frustration is that support tickets can take quite a while to get a response especially when the issue needs research. Designing SOX-compliant security reviews for SODs can also be a real challenge though their out-of-the-box security reports, now referenced on SOC-1, have gotten better--you just have to figure out which reported changes actually matter.
Rating Distribution
Ease of use
10
Value for money
10
Customer Support
10
Functionality
10
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the typical users of CoStar?
Typical users of the CoStar features include real estate professionals such as brokers and agents, hoteliers, owners and investors, appraisers, and occupiers.
What other apps does CoStar integrate with?
The platform has not disclosed its third-party integrations.
What language does CoStar support?
The software is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese.
What types of pricing plans does CoStar offer?
CoStar price plan starts from $3,000–$23,000/user/year, based on the industry benchmark. Get in touch for a personalized CoStar cost estimate.
What level of support does CoStar offer?
CoStar offers support via phone and email.
Does CoStar offer an API?
The vendor has not specified any information regarding its API availability.
Does CoStar have a mobile app?
Yes, CoStar has a mobile app available for both iOS and Android devices.