What is Altos Research?
Altos Research is a real estate data and analytics company that provides weekly market statistics and insights for residential properties. The platform tracks inventory levels, pricing trends, and market conditions across local markets in the United States.
Founded to address the lack of timely real estate market data, Altos Research aggregates listing information from multiple sources and delivers it to real estate professionals, lenders, and investors. The company focuses on providing granular, actionable data at the ZIP code and neighborhood level.
How Altos Research was founded
Altos Research was founded in 2006 by Mike Simonsen in the San Francisco Bay Area. Simonsen recognized that real estate professionals needed more current and localized market data than what was available through traditional monthly reports.
The company initially focused on analyzing active listings to provide real-time market intelligence. Over time, Altos Research expanded its data collection and analytics capabilities to cover thousands of markets nationwide. In 2021, CoStar Group acquired Altos Research, integrating its weekly market data into CoStar’s broader real estate information platform.
What Altos Research offers and supports
Altos Research provides weekly market reports that include metrics such as active inventory counts, median list prices, days on market, and price reductions. The platform covers over 400 markets across the United States, with data available at the metropolitan, county, and ZIP code levels.
The company offers subscription-based access to its data through various tiers. Users can access market dashboards, download custom reports, and receive automated email updates. Altos Research also provides an API for integrating its data into other software systems.
Additionally, the platform includes video market updates and webinars where analysts explain current trends and market dynamics.
Use cases for Altos Research in real estate
Real estate agents and brokers use Altos Research to monitor local market conditions and educate clients about pricing and inventory trends. The weekly data cadence allows professionals to identify shifts in supply and demand more quickly than monthly statistics permit.
Mortgage lenders and servicers utilize the platform to assess market risk and forecast loan performance across different geographic areas. The granular data helps lenders understand how local market conditions may affect default rates and property values.
Real estate investors and fund managers rely on Altos Research to identify emerging opportunities and track portfolio performance. The platform’s historical data enables users to analyze market cycles and make data-driven acquisition or disposition decisions.
Real-world applications of Altos Research
A listing agent might use Altos Research data to show a seller how inventory levels in their ZIP code have changed over the past 13 weeks, helping justify a recommended list price. Similarly, a buyer’s agent could demonstrate how days on market have been trending upward, supporting a negotiation strategy.
A residential lender could monitor Altos Research metrics across their lending footprint to identify markets where rapid price declines or inventory surges may indicate increased credit risk. This information can inform underwriting guidelines or portfolio concentration limits.
An investment firm evaluating potential acquisitions in multiple markets might compare Altos Research data across those locations to determine which markets show the most favorable supply-demand dynamics for their investment thesis.
