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The Internet Retailer Online Retail Index gained 3% last week.

Most e-commerce stocks tracked in the Internet Retailer Online Retail Index posted gains last week.

Among the top gainers last week was Amazon.com Inc., whose stock rose after the e-retailer posted a 33.8% increase in first quarter revenue, going from $9.86 billion in Q1 2011to $13.19 billion. Amazons stock value climbed 19.4% last week over the prior week. Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

Daily deal provider Groupon Inc.s stock rebounded last week with a 7.6% gain. Since the markets close March 30 when Groupon announced it was restating its fourth quarter earnings, its stock had lost value each week until last week. Still, the stock has fallen from its March 30 closing price of $18.38 to $11.98, a 34.8% decrease.

Online jeweler and auctioneer Bidz.com Inc., No. 150, led the index with a 26.5% gain, going from 49 cents to 62 cents last week. Netflix Inc., No. 13, led the losers with a 21.1% decrease following a $4.58 million Q1 loss reported last week.

The Online Retail Index tracks 25 publicly traded e-retailers and e-commerce technology providers. Most20had gains last week, with four losing value and one, Coastal Contacts Inc., No. 117, flat.

Overall, the Online Retail Index increased 3.00% last week, ahead of the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.53% and the Standard & Poors 500 increased 1.80% last week.

Following are the best-performing stocks last week in the Online Retail Index and the percentage increase in stock price for each:

Bidz.com, 26.5%

Amazon, 19.4%

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E-commerce stocks outperform the broader market

NEW YORK, May 1, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reis, Inc. (REIS - News) ("Reis" or the "Company"), a leading provider of commercial real estate market information and analytical tools, announced that it will release its first quarter 2012 results on the morning of Thursday, May 3, 2012. The complete release will also be available directly at either of the following web pages:

http://www.reis.com/investors

http://www.reis.com/pressreleases

The Company will host a conference call. This call is for the benefit of existing and prospective stockholders, stock analysts, and other interested parties to discuss the first quarter results and other matters.

A replay of the conference call will be available from shortly after the conference call through midnight (ET) on May 17, 2012 by dialing (800) 585-8367 from inside the United States or Canada or (404) 537-3406 from outside the United States and Canada, and referring to the conference ID: 76380277. An audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on Reis's website at http://www.reis.com/events and will remain on the website for a period of time following the call.

About Reis

The Company's primary business is providing commercial real estate market information and analytical tools for its subscribers, through its Reis Services subsidiary. Reis Services, including its predecessors, was founded in 1980. Reis maintains a proprietary database containing detailed information on commercial properties in metropolitan markets and neighborhoods throughout the U.S. The database contains information on apartment, office, retail, warehouse/distribution and flex/research & development properties and is used by real estate investors, lenders and other professionals to make informed buying, selling and financing decisions. In addition, Reis data is used by debt and equity investors to assess, quantify and manage the risks of default and loss associated with individual mortgages, properties, portfolios and real estate backed securities. Reis currently provides its information services to many of the nation's leading lending institutions, equity investors, brokers and appraisers.

Reis, through its flagship institutional product, Reis SE, and through its new small business product, ReisReports, provides online access to a proprietary database of commercial real estate information and analytical tools designed to facilitate debt and equity transactions as well as ongoing evaluations. Depending on the product, users have access to trend and forecast analysis at metropolitan and neighborhood levels throughout the U.S. and/or detailed building-specific information such as rents, vacancy rates, lease terms, property sales, new construction listings and property valuation estimates. Reis's products are designed to meet the demand for timely and accurate information to support the decision-making of property owners, developers, builders, banks and non-bank lenders, and equity investors. These real estate professionals require access to timely information on both the performance and pricing of assets, including detailed data on market transactions, supply, absorption, rents and sale prices. This information is critical to all aspects of valuing assets and financing their acquisition, development and construction.

For more information regarding Reis's products and services, visit http://www.reis.com and http://www.ReisReports.com.

The Reis, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7189

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Reis, Inc. to Announce First Quarter 2012 Results on Thursday, May 3, 2012

NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Hilco Trading, LLC, a world leader in tangible and intangible asset monetization services, today announced the launch of Hilco Real Estate Auctions, LLC (HREA). URL: http://www.HilcoREAL.com. The new operating unit will provide open-outcry and online real estate auction solutions for local, national and multi-national corporations, financial institutions, developers and others needing to sell real property and notes. Hilco Real Estate, LLC, also a unit of Hilco Trading, will continue to provide disposition brokerage services through sealed bid auctions and private treaty negotiated sales.

HREA was formed by Hilco and real estate auction veterans Michael A. Fine, CCIM, CAI, AARE, and Alan R. Kravets, Esq. Mr. Fine, Chief Executive Officer and Principal, has earned a reputation over 25 years as one of the industrys most knowledgeable and experienced real estate auction professionals. Mr. Kravets, Executive Vice President and Principal, also has more than 25 years as a real estate workout specialist and auction strategist.

HREA is an auction-driven real estate marketplace, said Mr. Fine. Weve combined high-touch, open-outcry auctions with technologically-advanced online auctions, and added extraordinary customization. HREA will provide buyers and sellers with unmatched expertise along with efficiently-managed and completely transparent sale methodologies for conducting real estate transactions." He added, Our structured auctions are best-in-class for all categories of real estate. We can serve sellers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Buyers, of course, can come from anywhere on earth.

Over the years, Mr. Fine and Mr. Kravets have structured and conducted successful real estate auctions totaling over $6 billion for hundreds of companies, including Pritzker Realty, Hartz Mountain Industries, Alcoa, Intrawest, Conrail, BP Oil, Amoco, American Skiing Company, and financial institutions including The Northern Trust Company, Wells Fargo, Citicorp and Bank of America-LaSalle. They have sold the broadest range of asset types, including mega-mansions, private island homes, gold mines, schools and libraries, hotels, corporate headquarters, ranches and large development sites.

Mr. Fine added, What differentiates HREA from other real estate auction providers, beyond decades of experience across the broadest array of real estate asset types and the widest geography, is our high-touch service. We are the first online auction to deliver a level of service to our clients that had previously only been available in traditional auctions. It begins with an offering strategy to meet the sellers objectives, then continues with an exhaustive marketing program to maximize the number of potential buyers and foster higher bid prices. Our high-touch approach even includes steps to ensure a smooth closing.

Mr. Kravets said, Every asset and every seller is unique, so maximizing the outcome of an auction requires a thoroughly customized program from beginning to end. HREA will successfully meld high-touch customer service with advanced internet bidding technology. Our auction site, for example, is hack-proof. Theres no chance of disrupting an auction, thus no worries about completing a sale on time or having to reschedule a disrupted auction, which can be costly.

Jeffrey B. Hecktman, Chairman and CEO of Hilco Trading, said, The launch of Hilco Real Estate Auctions alongside Hilco Real Estate advances our strategic goal of becoming the premier international provider of real estate disposition services. He added, Weve assembled a remarkable team of real estate professionals, who probably know more about conducting online and open outcry auction transactions than anyone. Hilco Real Estate Auctions positions Hilco as the go-to service provider.

About Hilco

Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois (USA), Hilco is a privately-held, diversified financial and operational services firm whose principal competency is understanding and maximizing the value of business assets, including retail, consumer and industrial inventory, machinery and equipment, real estate, accounts receivable, intellectual property and going-concern enterprises. Through an integrated platform of more than 20 business units on five continents, Hilco helps companies and their professional advisors derive the maximum value for said assets through appraisals, asset disposition and acquisition services, private equity investment and consulting services. Hilco serves retailers, wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers, directly and through their lenders, investors and advisors, including private equity firms, hedge funds, investment banks, law firms, turnaround professionals, accounting professionals, bankruptcy trustees and receivers. Web: http://www.hilcotrading.com.

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Hilco Launches Business Unit to Provide Open Outcry and Online Real Estate Auction Services

How Jason Freedman and 42Floors cooked up a killer business idea that could turn commercial real estate on its head.

David H. Freedman

Creating Serendipity: Jason Freedman (left) and David Woodworth head to yet another meeting in New York City. Freedman believes that if you have a compelling story and tell it enough times, good things will happen.

David H. Freedman

Home Base 42Floor's co-founders (from left) Ben Ehmke, David Woodworth, Jason Freedman, and Jon and James Bracy live and work in a four-bedroom house as they prepare to launch.

Jason Freedman hunches his shoulders against New York City's December chill and walks faster, nudged both by the cold and by being late. He and David Woodworth, co-founders of an Internet company called 42Floors, both stand out a bit with their buoyant, vulnerable Californianess as they swim against the trudging, elbowing crowds.

Focused on the iPhone he clutches a foot in front of his face for navigational purposes, oblivious to how dorky and unsafe this seems on these streets, Freedman races on to the next stop in a two-day string of meetings, Woodworth trailing a few feet behind.

Freedman and Woodworth are several months into the creation of 42Floors, which aims to make finding office space as easy as searching for plane tickets. They're here in New York to...well, it's not entirely clear why they're here. For sure, they hope large New York real estate companies will eventually agree to share office-space listings with their start-up, though it's too early to ask for that sort of commitment. Mainly, they're here to share their plans for 42Floors and get feedback, given that New York will be an early market for them. But they also want to open doors to possible, as yet unspecified alliances or just somehow make something good happen, whatever that might be. If nothing else, Freedman hopes the meetings will generate leads for more meetings. "If they can't help me, maybe they play golf with someone who does," he says.

Freedman believes that start-ups need a certain amount of serendipity to succeed and that this serendipity comes to those who go out and take meetings. "Serendipity is a function of how compelling your story is and how many times you repeat it to people," he says.

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Disruption Comes (Finally!) to Commercial Real Estate

TORONTO , May 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. (the Company) (BRE.TO), a leading provider of services to residential real estate brokers and their REALTORS, today announced that cash flow from operations ("CFFO") for the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $5.6 million as compared to $5.7 million for the same period in 2011.

CFFO for the rolling 12 month period ended March 31, 2012 is $1.96 per restricted voting share ("RVS") as compared to $1.97 for the rolling 12 month period ended March 31, 2011 . Royalties were $8.2 million for the quarter, the same level as the first quarter of 2011. The net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $3.2 million or $0.34 per RVS, as compared to a loss of $1.8 million for the same period in 2011.

OVERVIEW OF FIRST QUARTER OPERATING RESULTS

During the quarter, the Company generated cash flow from operations ("CFFO") of $5.6 million as compared to $5.7 million for the same period in 2011. The Company had an increase in variable franchise fees due to increased market activity, offset by a decrease in fixed royalty fees as a result of net attrition experienced in the underlying agent network during 2011 and the decrease in other revenue and services. Other revenue and services decreased by 10% quarter over quarter (1.2% of overall revenue), as the Company discontinued an agent website program that was no longer relevant.

On a rolling twelve-month basis, the Canadian market transactional dollar volume of $168.0 billion increased by 11% from March 31, 2011 , driven by a 6% and 5% increase in selling price and home sale activity, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2012 , the Canadian market transactional dollar volume was up 5% over the same period in 2011, driven by a 1% and 4% increase in selling price and home sale activity, respectively.

On a rolling twelve-month basis, the GTA Market experienced a quarter-over-same-quarter increase of 19% driven by a 9% increase in selling price and 10% increase in home sale activity. For the three months ended March 31, 2012 , the GTA Market experienced an 18% increase on a 10% and 8% increase in selling price and home sale activity, respectively over the same period in 2011. The higher than anticipated rise in home prices is largely driven by the consistent shortage of listings, resulting in competition among home buyers for the Quarter, and low interest rates, which continue to draw home buyers into the Market.

The Company's revenue is primarily fixed in nature, based on the number of REALTORS in the network, which was essentially flat, period over period. This structure provides revenue protection from the impact of revenue dips when the market cools, but also reduces the degree to which the Company participates in periods of rapid market expansion.

"In terms of network expansion, our contract sales funnel is healthy," said Phil Soper , President and Chief Executive Officer, Brookfield Real Estate Services, Inc. "On a year-over-year basis, the number of agents in our growth funnel is up considerably."

Since the Company recognizes variable fees when home sales close, which typically is 45 to 60 days after the sales date used for Canadian market data, the improved market activity is expected to materialize as increased variable and premium fees in the second quarter.

"Price appreciation and strong unit sales reflect Canadians taking advantage of a highly competitive banking environment and borrowing rates that for the first time fell below 3.0 per cent for a five year fixed mortgage," continued Mr. Soper . "The lure of historically low mortgage rates, as well as unseasonably warm weather, particularly in Central Canada , encouraged sellers to list their homes earlier than normal, pulling ahead transactions into the early part of the year."

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Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. reports first quarter 2012 results and monthly dividend