Reports of the death of the newspaper real estate listing have been greatly exaggerated.

Except for a small one-year decline, newspapers' real estate advertising revenues have steadily risen since 1995 -- right through the recession.

That's largely because both real estate professionals and consumers see the newspaper as a viable, local source of both listings and related real estate information -- on and off the Net.

"Some real estate groups have in the past made a big to-do about the Net having caught up with newspapers and are once again predicting the death of the daily newspaper. Here we go again," said Tony Marsella, vice president of classified marketing for the Newspapers Association of America.

Last week, Homestore.com, which operates the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) listing site, Realtor.com, reported "For the first time, the Internet caught newspapers as the primary media resource for consumer home searches and surpassed newspapers in many key real estate marketing categories."

Referring to NAR's recent"2002 Profile of Buyers & Sellers," Homestore.com's statement is misleading.

The NAR report reveals 41 percent of those surveyed used newspaper advertisements and 41 percent of those surveyed used the Internet among other sources used in the home search. It also reports 24 percent of those surveyed used a home book or magazine in the search.

The NAR survey also puts the Internet ahead of the newspapers -- by one percentage point -- as the source buyers used to first learn about the home they ultimately purchased.

And, when it comes to future home buying information sources, the survey says home books and magazines, at 34 percent, were ahead of both the Internet and newspapers, both of which would be used by 16 percent of those surveyed.

What the NAR report doesn't reveal is that newspapers don't only offer newspaper-based real estate listings, but also online listings and listings in major home books and magazines that newspapers own.

"The fact is, when you add together the net audience of newspaper readers, 41 percent, some of the 41 percent that go to Web sites and some of the 24 percent that go to homes magazines owned by newspapers, newspapers offer a portfolio of products that really remain dominant," said Marsella.

"While the Net grows, remember, newspaper Web sites are part of that growth," he added.

Knight-Ridder and other chains with a heavy online news and real estate information presence, also have been actively affiliating with local multiple listing services (MLS) to put listings online. The effort is designed to cash in on the regional nature of real estate.

"Historically, newspapers are a local medium and our strength is in the local market place. We are striking some alliances in local market places," said Marsella.

In any event, while the newspaper industry has a competitor that didn't exist a decade ago, real estate advertising revenues are not shrinking.

Real estate advertising revenues are up 2.9 percent this year, following a 6.5 percent increase in 2001 and a 5.89 percent jump in 2000 after a 0.77 percent decline in 1999. In 1996, 1997 and 1998 real estate advertising revenues rose 6 percent, 13.4 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively, revealing steady increases both during the advent of the Internet, and during the recession, according to the NAA.

In the newspaper's industry's own survey, on the heels of the NAR report, Portsmouth, VA-based Borrell Associates Inc. revealed newspapers' Web sites are capturing a different group of home shoppers than the ones who use newspapers.

The difference reveals newspapers' success at bridging the gap between the older newspaper reader and younger Internet surfer to serve them both.

Borrell found newspaper Web sites have captured home seekers who are two years younger than the national median age of home shoppers, they have a median household income 55 percent higher and they are generally not newspaper subscribers. It also found that 57 percent of home seekers using newspaper Web sites are renters -- ultimately, first time home buyers.

Newspapers' browsing for housing success also can be attributed to a combination of elements found on successful realty Web sites -- listings, along with credible real estate content, accuracy, trustworthiness and longevity.

NAA's commissioned survey also reveals a market with room for all -- online, in-print and in-person home-buying information and assistance. Web sites operated by brokers and individual agents were most popular with consumers; comprehensive, updated listings are important to consumers (sites that offer MLS listings generate up to 30 times the number of unique visitors); and the need for a friendly-neighborhood real estate agent is not diminished by the Internet, the NAA found.

In NAA's commissioned Borrell study, 86 percent of the respondents said they were considering using a Realtor to complete their purchase -- even more than the 79 percent who said they did use a real estate agent as an information source in their home search in the NAR survey.