It has been two years since the National Association of REALTORS® conducted its Home Buying and Selling Process survey. Just last week NAR released the results of its most recent addition to the series, which offered some significant changes in trends.

Among the most significant changes is the large percentage of first-time homebuyers at 42% of total homebuyers, a strong showing that has pushed the move-up market as well. It is the first time homebuyer that has been largely credited with much of the success of the current market.

Another change was the proliferation of the single female buyer, accounting for 18 percent of sales, the largest percentage achieved by this group in the history of the bi-annual NAR survey, and seven percent higher than single male buyers. Although married couples continue to dominate home purchases with 64 percent of sales, it was interesting that the non-traditional homebuyer, including minorities, couples and non-traditional couples, has made such a gain.

These figures are consistent with other surveys that have been conducted during the same period by such organizations as the U.S. Census Bureau which has tracked the increase in non-traditional households for several decades. Single women make up fully 25% of all households whether they rent or own. According to a survey performed by Chicago Title and Trust Co. earlier this year, single, never-married and minority homebuyers helped push home sales through the roof in over 20 major U.S. markets last year, growing by 28.9 percent.

This year marks the first time that NAR has tracked home purchases by minorities. Caucasians accounted for 90 percent of the market, while African-Americans made up 5% of the market. Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, Eskimos or Aleuts were the remaining 1%. Eight percent of the Caucasian market was made up of Latino, Spanish or Hispanic segments.

The Internet played a much more significant role in home selection than ever before. When homebuyers were asked what variety of sources they used in their search process, 18 percent used on-line services and the Internet. Real estates led the category with 82 percent. Other means of home selection are as follows: 51 percent through newspaper ads; 39 percent with open houses; 38 percent via yard signs; 34 percent perusing home books or magazines; 24 percent were told by friends, neighbors or relatives.

The Internet has a long way to go as far as being the first point of contact for the homebuyer. Only 2% of homebuyers first learned about the home they purchased over the Internet, a 100% increase over two years ago. But, according to Forest Pafenberg, director of real estate finance research at NAR, the statistic doesn't tell the whole story.

Cautions Pafenberg, "Remember, this statistic just represents the closed transaction. When you look at the fact that homebuyers looked at a median of 10 homes and that the Internet and on-line services played a role in their home selection 18% of the time, that is a significant increase. What the statistic doesn't tell you is what percentage of those other ten homes that were viewed were over the Internet."

The figures mean that use of the Internet in searching for a home is rapidly increasing - nine-fold in two years. In NAR's previous survey, conducted during the second half of 1995, only 2 percent of buyers used on- line services and the Internet compared to 18 percent in 1997.

NAR's official Web site, Realtor.com is not only the largest real estate site on the Web, it is consistently among the Top 100 Most Frequently Viewed Sites receiving over 90 million home views per month. Over a million visitors a month use the site to seek homes, read real estate related news, find an agent and learn about the intricacies of the homebuying/homeselling process.

Also See: Healthy Balance Exists Between First-time and Move-up Buyers