Even as news broke that June's existing home sales had reached a seven-month low, online real estate tracker Zillow (zillow.com) is showing that there is money to be made in the housing sector, at least after a fashion. Zillow's initial public offering was priced at $20 on late Tueday; during Wednesday's trading the shares (NYSE: Z) had at one point more than doubled.
As of press time, the gain had cooled to about 68 percent.
The company's name was derived from its desire to make available "zillions" of data points to inform real estate decisions, coupled with the spirit of a home being "where you lay your head to rest at night, like a pillow," according to company information.
Zillow has Web-based and mobile tools providing data and services for the benefit of homeowners, buyers, sellers, agents, and investors. The information available includes sale prices, rent estimates, and loan-seeking tools.
