Facebook Adds Home Rentals To Marketplace

Facebook is teaming up with Apartment List and Zumper to bring real estate listings to its Marketplace retail platform.

According to news from Engadget, citing the social media company, with the new partnerships, U.S. Facebook users will be able to peruse hundreds of thousands of apartment rental units. The report noted that, initially, the launch will include search filters such as location, price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, type of rental, square footage and whether or not pets are allowed. Landlords can also upload 360-degree photos to add to their real estate listings.

“Marketplace is a popular place for people to look for a home to rent,” said Facebook’s Bowen Pan in an interview with Engadget. “Now that we’re adding listings from Apartment List and Zumper, people can search even more options in the U.S. to find a place to call home. First, with vehicles and now with housing rentals, we’re partnering with businesses to bring more ease and convenience for consumers.”

The move to expand into apartment rental listings comes as Facebook is adding lots of new features to its Marketplace retail platform. Late last month, it announced that it is expanding the number of cars for sale users can view, teaming up with leaders in the auto industry. In a blog post at the time, Deborah Liu, Facebook VP of Marketplace, said that millions of Americans use the platform each day to look for cars and that it has become one of its most popular categories.

Among the new features is the ability to browse the vehicle inventories of Edmunds, Cars.com, Auction123, CDK Global and SOCIALDEALER. Searching for vehicles will be even easier, through filters that can find car listings by year, make, model, mileage, vehicle type and transmission. Users will also get access to the car’s value from Kelley Blue Book and can communicate directly with a dealership via Facebook Messenger. The chat is being powered by ActivEngage, CarCode, Contact At Once! and Gubagoo, Liu said in the blog post.