Realtor.com® recently announced the expansion of realtor.com/international as part of a newly formed News Corp global property network. Created by News Corp, REA Group [ASX: REA] and Move, the global property network is the world’s largest global real estate listing community, offering more than three million listings from 56 countries.

The network consists of 12 leading international real estate sites, attracting more than 200 million visits globally each month.

Users of realtor.com® and realtor.com/international already have access to both the most comprehensive inventory of for-sale real estate listings in the United States — with approximately 1.5 million for-sale U.S. listings — and international properties from 45 countries in multiple languages and local currencies. The network further expands the global footprint to 56 countries on realtor.com/international with plans to showcase listings from sites in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as News Corp’s Mansion Global and India-based PropTiger.

“This is an important step forward in the evolution of real estate. We’re part of a global community of international property sites that enable people to search with confidence for real estate properties and information all around the world,” says Ryan O’Hara, CEO of Move. “As the U.S.’s largest and most comprehensive source of for-sale listings, we are delighted to be a formative part of this new global collective as we expand our unmatched access through technological innovation and enhanced cooperation across borders.”

Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp says “The global property network being launched today demonstrates the power of combining data across the News Corp digital real estate portfolio, and provides further evidence that News Corp is the largest digital property business in the world.

“By combining the listings – and the talent – of REA Group, realtor.com®, and other partner sites, we are creating an opportunity to enhance listings for consumers and customers around the world, while enabling collaboration with News Corp’s existing stable of real estate businesses and partners, including Mansion Global and PropTiger. With more global properties than any other source, it’s a capability that no competitor can match. We are creating a whole new world of property for consumers, and premium audiences on a global scale for advertisers,” Thomson says.

With interest in foreign investment on the rise around the world, providing a common search experience across borders is a significant advantage for U.S. home searchers looking to invest abroad. Globetrotting U.S. consumers might be looking to Paris, Hong Kong or Melbourne for an opportunity, and this global property network enables them to view and compare more properties more easily using realtor.com/international. International searchers can enjoy a familiar search experience for global properties based on their location, including international market top searches. For many of the markets in the global property network, this represents the first time consumers can explore properties all over the world, starting from a site they know and trust.

Putting the technology and relationships in place to connect buyers, agents and properties is an important leap, but working with a member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) – particularly one certified in international transactions – is just as critical.  Real estate processes and protocols differ widely across borders, from parameters as simple as bedroom count vs. total room count, to as complex as representation, financing, ownership and international taxation. Realtor.com® has worked closely with the NAR over the past several years to advance professional resources that help agents become conversant in international property transactions.

“As the largest and most established international player in the global property network, the National Association of REALTORS® is focused on expanding international real estate business opportunities and bringing more buyers and sellers together across continents,” says NAR President Tom Salomone. “The enhanced realtor.com/international website together with NAR’s network of Certified International Property Specialist designees will enable more consumers to take advantage of globalization’s powerful impact on real estate markets and successfully sell their home to an international buyer or purchase a property abroad.”

The full international property inventory is now available on realtor.com/international, in a new user experience accessed through the beta button on the site.  Additional features and enhancements are planned for the months ahead, and the integration of U.S. listing content into the beta site is planned for this winter.

For more information, visit realtor.com/international.