SEC Questions Revenue Disclosures of Real Estate Site Zillow

Zillow Inc., the real estate website, fell yesterday after the Securities and Exchange Commission asked the company to respond to questions about how it reported revenue.

Seattle-based Zillow declined 4.21% to $39.11 in New York. Before the release of the SEC’s letter, the stock had gained 82% this year.

The SEC asked in a letter dated Aug. 30 why the company didn’t report the percentage increase in the average price paid for so-called premier agent subscriptions in its most recent financial report, according to a regulatory filing. Zillow said it would revise disclosures in its next quarterly report, according to the filing.

In addition, the SEC asked why total marketplace revenue growth appears to be slowing while premier agent subscription revenue looked to be increasing. In response, Zillow said in the filing that it would start disclosing the average monthly premier agent revenue per subscriber.

“This letter was in response to an early 2012 10-K filing submitted by Zillow, and we have since responded to the SEC’s satisfaction,” Katie Curnutte, a Zillow spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

Separately, the SEC also asked Zillow to disclose the number of unique users by domain name for different websites the company operates, including Zillow.com and RentJuice.com, according to a second letter released in a regulatory filing.