CoStar did not return a call to GlobeSt.com in time for publication, however in a prepared statement, CEO Andrew Florance says that PPRI's product and feature set--along with its 40 economists and analysts--will allow CoStar to respond to the growing demand for forecasting and analytic services.

Florance also noted that the two companies' human and knowledge resources complement each other well. CoStar, for instance, has only one economist on staff compared to PPRI's team of 40. PPR, on the other hand, does not have any primary data collection researchers whereas CoStar has more than 900 market researchers; also PPR is covering a global geography with a sales staff of only six people, while CoStar in contrast has approximately 150 sales professionals.

The industry--that is, the commercial real estate developers and lawyers and brokers who subscribe to the duo's respective services--have no doubt considered these benefits to an acquisition, as well as the potential downside.

This particular industry niche is small; aside from CoStar and PPRI, there is Real Capital Analytics in New York City and Reis--which CoStar tried, twice, to acquire. Each company though, approaches the market in a different way, Hessam Nadji managing director of research services at Marcus & Millichap, told GlobeSt.com in an interview last year when Reis spurned CoStar's second bid. For that reason, customers might not want to see mergers among these players, he suggested.

Still, though, subscribers are unlikely to be surprised by the deal: CoStar--a company that has acquired several firms over the years--has been angling to beef up its analytics capabilities for at least the last 12 months. Besides its failed bid, other anecdotal evidence pointing to CoStar's intensions have been comments made by Florance in earnings calls as well as the company's recent appointment of former CFO Frank Carchedi to a new position in the company: SVP of Corporate Development, a role tasked with identify, completing and integrating acquisitions.