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Zillow Inc. is the biggest real-estate website operator in the United States. The former agreed to purchase StreetEasy for USD50 million in cash as it moves to expand its coverage in the New York market.

Today, StreetEasy announced in a statement that it has around 12 million unique users visiting the site monthly. Majority of these users came from the New York region and are mostly shopping for residential real-estate in the area. Meanwhile, Zillow said on a separate statement that it has commenced on a secondary stock offering with proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes.

Zillow has been active in acquisitions to maintain growth in the current recovering housing market. It has faced tough competition from Trulia Inc. and other real-estate listings providers. Last December, the company bought HotPads for USD16 million in cash. Zillow said that San Francisco-based HotPads has gotten 61 million unique users last July, which was a 66% increase from its last year's record.