Personalized Search Experience Focuses on Real-time Listings, and Community, Demographic and Lifestyle Information

TORONTO — Yahoo! and Zoocasa, Canada’s fastest growing real estate search site, today announced the launch of a new application that enables Canadians to access Zoocasa’s online real estate search service directly from their Yahoo.ca homepage.

Now the more than 17 million Canadians who visit Yahoo! every month will be able to search for a new home, research local neighbourhoods and receive updates about properties that fit their personal profile, all through the Zoocasa.com application on their Yahoo.ca homepage. Combining real-time listing information and mapping technology, Zoocasa.com allows users to personalize their search experience and discover community, demographic and lifestyle information to help them choose the right home.

“Our vision is for Yahoo.ca to be the best guide for Canadians for both their online and offline worlds,” said Laurie Maw, director, Business Development for Yahoo! Canada. “The Zoocasa application is an important addition to Yahoo! Canada’s current line-up of online apps that includes everything from Flickr and Facebook, to links to our Sports and Finance channels.”

Zoocasa offers a variety of real estate search options to Canadians, including searches by region, city, price range, number of bedrooms/bathrooms and property type. Users can also enhance their decision making process by learning about their city and area of choice using online guides and maps.

“We are excited to work with Yahoo! Canada to launch a Zoocasa.com app that gives Canadians another great way to streamline their house-hunting efforts,” said Butch Langlois, president of Zoocasa. “From Vancouver and Edmonton, to Toronto and Montreal, Canadians can find detailed, real-time information about the regions, cities, neighbourhoods and houses they are interested in.”

Zoocasa is a portfolio company of the Rogers Ventures Group. Rogers Ventures is a new source of funding for technology start-ups and a support mechanism for Canada’s innovation ecosystem.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).

About Yahoo! Canada

Yahoo! Canada Co. is a leading Internet destination that provides online products and services to meet the needs of Canadians and offers a range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users. Yahoo! Canada services Canadians in both English and in French through its sites, www.yahoo.ca and www.qc.yahoo.ca. In Canada, Yahoo! sites were visited by more than 17 million Canadians in July, 2010 (comScore Media Metrix). Yahoo! Canada is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.

About Zoocasa:

Zoocasa, a portfolio company of the Rogers Ventures Group (a division of Rogers Communications Inc.), is a consumer based service targeting people searching for a home. By focusing on the search experience and not the traditional way of simply showing home listings, Zoocasa is the only service to allow searches based on what really goes into a home buying decision. For more information please visit zoocasa.com.

SOURCE: Yahoo!

Environics Communications for Yahoo! Canada

Jill Yetman, 416-969-2722
jyetman@environicspr.com
Gema Rayo, 416-969-2665
grayo@environicspr.com
or

Zoocasa.com
Jason Lewin, 416-764-4569
Director of Marketing
jlewin@zoocasa.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010