Real estate data firm Zillow announced Nov. 5 that it will acquire the mortgage technology company Mortech Inc. The deal will expand Zillow’s presence in the mortgage leads market and increase market share in product and pricing engine businesses.

Mortech is the developer of the Marksman pricing engine and is the data source for the U.S. Mortgage Market Index.

“This acquisition accelerates the development of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow's lending marketplace where borrowers can connect instantly with reputable lenders to get personalized loan options and real-time mortgage rates,” Zillow announced in a news release. The firm said the acquisition would help mortgage professionals convert more borrower contacts into funded loans.

Zillow reported that it currently receives more than 1 million loan requests each month on its Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

The Mortech acquisition will allow access to software that includes:

• A product and pricing engine to help lenders match the right mortgage products to the needs of a borrower,
• A lead management platform to help lenders serve borrowers from multiple channels both online and offline, and
• Marketing tools to keep lenders' brand and rate quotes in front of borrowers throughout the mortgage shopping process.

Zillow will pay $12 million in cash for Mortech, in addition to 150,000 shares of restricted stock, which have an estimated value of $5 million.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2012.