Property industry watching Zillow IPO

The proposed initial public offering for Zillow, the property listings site, will provide an interesting barometer for the US property market.

Zillow, which expects to go public this week, is one of the country's most popular listing sites, including price estimates and specific data on 100 million properties. In May the site attracted 22 million unique visitors, double the traffic from a year earlier.

But the site doesn't make a profit, at this point. The company lost $6.8 million (Dh24.9 mn) last year. And the US real estate market continues to struggle.

Zillow presents a dilemma for investors. Some might view it as an Internet company, valuing its against LinkedIn, Pandora and other recent Internet offerings. Or they might  view the site as a real estate company, pegged to the ebbs and flow of the property market.

The buzz so far has been favorable. The proposed target price for the 3.5 million shares was raised last week from $12 to $14 a share to $16 to $18 a share.

At that price it would raise more than $56 million, a relatively small offering by current standards. But it could provide a sign that investors still consider real estate a growth industry, a place where it is possible to make some money with the right business model.