realtor.com Still On Top

Of the 3,194 real estate websites Hitwise tracked in November realtor.com came out number one in terms of US market share, retaining its top dog status.

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Increased Market Interest on realtor.com

realtor.com, the official website of the National Association of Realtors in the US, operated by Move, Inc, is tracking a trend that sees users spend more time on the website viewing more pages. The portal argues that this shows that users are still searching, and searching hard, despite the challenging housing market.

Move Inc made the announcement today, quoting data from the October comScore Media Metrics report.

“We’re encouraged to see continued increases in page views and the time our users invest on realtor.com as they search for real estate,” says realtor.com President, Errol Samuelson. “This trend confirms earlier findings from our recent survey indicating a pent up demand for real estate with markets like Stockton-Lodi, CA, Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL, Las Vegas, NV and Detroit, MI experiencing the greatest year-over-year increases in searches by consumers.”

In a survey conducted last month (GK Custom Research North America Survey, commissioned by Move, Inc.) more than two thirds of home buyers said they’ve held off buying a home because of the overall economic condition. The company says that based on consumer search trends, real estate search is picking up in the markets hit hardest by the recent economic conditions, indicating renewed consumer interest in these areas.

Move, Inc leads the US online real estate market with 8.8 million monthly visitors using its websites (comScore Media Metrix, October 2008). It operates realtor.com alongside Welcome Wagon, Moving.com; SeniorHousingNet, Top Producer Systems and move.com.

realtor.com continues to be the most popular real estate website and consumer traffic on realtor.com increased by 31% year-over-year and by 35% month-to-month in October. Visitors viewed 14% more pages on realtor.com compared to the same month last year. They spent 460% more minutes on the site compared to the closest competitor, for an 11% year-over-year increase in minutes, as time spent on the entire online real estate category declined by -8%.

Lorna Borenstein, President of Move, Inc. said that over the past year the number of users saving a search or listing has doubled, registrations have increased by 50%, and 10 times more visitors were “opting in” to receive marketing offers and other communications than they did a year ago.

“We expect to be well positioned to broaden our lead as the market rebounds,” said Borenstein.

realtor.com’s sister website, move.com, also achieved double digit month-over-month increases in unique users (+12%), visits (+21%) and minutes (+14%), according to the comScore data.

forsalebyowner.com Ads on realtor.com

A press release last week from US private house sale website forsalebyowner.com revealed that it has become the nation’s first “by owner” real estate website to enable home sellers to advertise their home on realtor.com without appearing on a local Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

The company said this new direct access to realtor.com follows the May 2008 settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR):

“The DOJ-NAR settlement benefited consumers by giving them access to Realtor.com without the expensive cost of a commission fee,” said Greg Healy, Vice President of Operations at forsalebyowner.com. “We’re proud to be the first to offer this new consumer-friendly access to Realtor.com. In today’s challenging housing market, sellers need cost-saving ways to sell their homes.”

realtor.com attracts nearly five million monthly visits and the new realtor.com Showcase Listing service from forsalebyowner.com will give private sellers access to this huge pool of readers.

forsalebyowner.com is one of the leading “by owner” real estate websites in the US. Established in 1999, the company provides Internet marketing services, MLS listing services, property pricing reports, real estate guidance and information, downloadable legal forms, as well as live customer support, to help customers independently sell their own homes. Rather than a 6% commission on the house sale price, owners using the website are charged around $89 to $899.

“Our typical home seller saves nearly $13,000 in commission and this new access to Realtor.com will help even more people sell their home without using the services of a real estate agent,” said Healy.

realtor.com Leads but trulia.com Gains Ground

October Hitwise figures for real estate, based on US Internet usage, have been released.

realtor.com continues to dominate in both market share and search terms, while trulia.com makes small gains.

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realtor.com Sets the Online Standard?

On Monday the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Move, Inc. announced look and feel changes to realtor.com.

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realtor.com Reports Strong Month on Month Traffic Growth

Earlier this week Move Inc, the owner of realtor.com, reported that they had strong month on month growth in their traffic to the realtor.com site.

According to ComScore Media Metrix, the realtor.com site had a increase in traffic of 29% from June to July and that the overall time spent on the site increased by 26%.  I am not sure whether they are referring to total minutes on site or average session duration.  If it is total minutes on site, then of course that will increase in line with an increase in the number of people visiting the site.

Now I dont put much credibility in month on month growth in traffic purely because it can be affected by so many variables:

• June has 30 days while July has 31 days
• June may have more public holidays than July
• An extensive Pay Per Click campaign may have been run in July to bolster traffic numbers
• A new content distribution deal may have been launched
• Even the underlying panel data or the methodology may have changed during the period

What is more important is to look at year on year growth for the business using comparable months.  Luckily the Move Inc guys also reported the growth of realtor.com on a year on year basis.

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