LoopNet announced yesterday the LoopNet Property Database, which contains information on five million commercial properties of several different types. The database, which is in beta, is available only to LoopNet Premium Members (Premium membership is between $39.95 and $49.95 depending on how you are billed) but LoopNet gave me temporary access so I could take a look around and give you guys a report. There’s also an iPad app, but you won’t be getting a review on that from me…

LoopNet is available at http://www.loopnet.com/. You can do a certain amount of searching for free, but to have access to all building data you need a premium membership.

The screenshot shows all the property search options available, which are extensive. Options include property type, location (as broad as country or as narrow as zip code or address/intersection), property criteria, and property use and status. (That last one has been updated to include only distressed properties and only property auctions.) I can imagine some other search options I might want (for example, searching for warehouse property and wanting to specify what percentage of my target warehouse is climate-controlled) but this is pretty extensive.

I did a search for warehouse spaces for sale in the Birmingham, Alabama area and got 72 results. Results included an image of the building, brief description, and price. Clicking on a property gets you additional information like more building stats, description, and a flier. The new goodies are down at the bottom of the listing, however, under the “View the Property Record” link. Here you’ll get tax and property data, historical pricing and rent trends (metro area and state) and map and street view (courtesy Bing and Google Maps respectively.)

There are also tabs available for sale and lease histories, but none of the properties I looked at had much of a sale and lease history.

The property search is not without its errors — I found a PO box that was listed as a property — but for the most part it was easy to use and the historical information provided a useful perspective. Not cheap, but plenty of information. How about downloadable comma-delimited trends data so I can mix up and create my own graphs?