CoStar Group, a provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces that operates offices in Columbia Gateway Office Park, has acquired Off Campus Partners (OCP), an online multifamily marketplace service for student housing in the United States.
Founded in Charlottesville, Va., in 2000 by a University of Virginia student, OCP enters into exclusive agreements with universities, most of which are multi-year, to provide an off-campus housing listing service for students, parents, and faculty/staff. Currently, it has existing contracts with 132 universities and services more than 2 million off-campus students.
OCP university partners include, among many others, the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University, the University of Arizona, Boston College, the University of Miami, Clemson, the University of Iowa and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“There are over 17 million college students in need of housing near universities paying approximately $100 billion in rent annually,” said Andrew Florance, CoStar Group founder and CEO. “This is a massive market with tremendous growth opportunities for us to partner with more universities and attract more advertisers, especially small independent owners. The majority of OCP’s advertisers are independent owners who are excellent candidates for the full suite of services we plan to offer soon on our Apartments.com network, the most visited apartment internet listing service in the United States with more than 60 million visits per month.”