Furnished rental service Blueground says it has acquired fellow housing platform Nestpick.
The move, announced Tuesday (May 30), creates an invite-only network of furnished apartment providers, and more than doubles the number of Blueground’s available apartments, adding 18,000 units to its existing 15,000-apartment network.
Founded 10 years ago, Blueground operates what it says is the largest “curated global network of furnished rentals” for stays of 30 days or more, according to a news release.
Founder and CEO Alex Chatzieleftheriou, who had spent years living out of hotels as a business traveler, wanted to “create a way that people could feel settled and at home, while free to explore the world,” the release said.
Nestpick’s platform connects renters seeking longer-term stays — 30 days or greater — with thousands of properties around the world.
PYMNTS spoke to Nestpick CEO Omer Kucukdere in 2021 about the way the COVID pandemic had changed things for workers who weren’t interested in signing a single-term lease in one city each year when they could spend the year bouncing around.
“I think flexibility for remote workers is just a thing that is happening,” Kucukdere said. “It’s our job to figure out as a platform how to make that digitally, smoothly and seamlessly for customer and property managers.”
Under the terms of the deal, Kucukdere will become Blueground VP, overseeing the new partner network, the news release said.
“Blueground will use Nestpick’s tech, integration infrastructure, and expertise as a global platform to establish its Partner Network and grow Blueground’s business beyond its core network of managed properties,” the release said.
The deal comes amid a wave of disappointing news for the housing market, the latest of which was Realtor.com’s Monthly Housing Market Trends report for April, which found that housing inventory in the country’s top 50 metro areas was 48% below pre-pandemic levels.
“Nationwide, there were 21% less listings over the month compared to the same period the previous year,” PYMNTS wrote last week.
A silver lining in all this: Rental prices are continuing to cool, with CoreLogic’s most recently released nationwide Single Family Rent Index showing rent growth for the category slowing to 4.3%, decelerating for the 11th straight month.
“This dip could ease housing costs for many renters, or even put upgrading to a more expensive lease within their grasp,” PYMNTS wrote.
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