Real-estate site builds an extension

NEWS US Online real-estate service Homestore.com plans to acquire iPlace, a provider of online credit and real-estate information, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $150m. iPlace provides online access to credit reports, in addition to real estate information such as descriptions of neighborhoods, through its network of sites that include iPlace.com, ConsumerInfo.com, QSpace.com and eNeighborhoods.com. Homestore.com operates sites for real-estate agents and consumers, provisionally listing homes for sale or rent. Homestore.com claims the combined sites will become one of the 20 most-visited networks on the net. The company said its sites registered 9.1 million users in July. iPlace claims it has more than 600,000 paid customer subscriptions, and 6.7 million visitors in July.