Nov. 2006

ONLINE REAL ESTATE


• Online real estate advertising will grow to a $2 billion category this year and swell to $3 billion by 2010, surpassing the longtime leader
  
• Nine out of 10 home buyers use a real estate agent in the search process, but use of the Internet to search for a home has risen dramatically over time, increasing from only 2 percent of buyers in 1995 to 77 percent in 2005; it was 74 percent in 2004
  
• 24 percent of buyers identified the Internet, up strongly from 15 percent in 2004 and only 2 percent in 1997. Although most buyers use an agent to complete the transaction, 36 first learn about the home they buy from a real estate agent and 15 percent from yard signs; five other categories were 7 percent or less.
  
• "The real estate industry today bears little resemblance to the way we did business 10 years ago. It is hard to find another industry that has adopted technology so readily to its customers," Stevens said. "Realtors® have invested a lot of time and money in building information technology, and because of these efforts, more consumers than ever are using the Internet in their home search."
  
• The survey shows 81 percent of buyers who use the Internet to search for a home purchase through a real estate agent, while 63 percent of non-Internet users buy through an agent; non-Internet users are more likely to purchase directly from a builder or an owner they knew in advance of the transaction.
  
• Internet buyer only viewed 6 homes with their agent, while traditional buyers visited 14 homes.
  
• Internet buyers spent two weeks looking for the home they ultimately purchased, compared with seven weeks for traditional buyers.

Around the world, companies spend over $250 billion dollars a year trying to convince consumers to buy their products and services

*The study was today by the National Association of Realtors®.
* The C.A.R. Survey Reveals About Internet Versus Traditional Buyers