Helped by continually strong real estate markets nationwide, REALTOR.com, the official site of the National Association of Realtors®, was the favored choice of nearly two-thirds of consumers visiting the Internet for real estate information in July.

As market leader, REALTOR.com topped the number of visitors looking for homes on the next largest competitor's site by almost three to one, in categories of both total minutes spent on the site and unique visitors to the site, according to the latest report from comScore Media Metrix*, a leading Internet traffic reporting agency. ComScore Media Metrix reports data about consumers who visit the Internet to seek real estate information.

The REALTOR.com site, which draws most of its traffic from real estate listings, attracted 4.49 million unique users in July, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the previous month, when it attracted more than 3.79 million unique users, reported comScore Media Metrix. The July numbers were more than 21 percent higher than July 2001, when the site attracted 3.2 million unique users. Last month's data also indicated that the average potential home buyer looked at 18.6 pages and spent an average of nearly 15 minutes per visit.

In contrast, the next nearest comparable site that lists homes for sale - MSN HomeAdvisor - drew 25 percent of its overall traffic from real estate listings in July. HomeAdvisor's comparable properties for sale area drew 1.3 million unique users during the month. Statistics reported by MicroSoft's HomeAdvisor include all visitors to the Microsoft Network, as though all were seeking real estate information, according to comScore Media Metrix.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings*, another leading ratings organization, REALTOR.com attracted 4.43 million unique users in July. It reported that each unique user spent an average of nearly 12 minutes looking at 24 pages on the site in July. By the end of the month, more than 136 million total minutes had been registered on the site, which is four times more than the competition.

"REALTOR.com continues to attract the most consumers searching for property listings as well as for local brokers and sales associates than the leading competitor. Most importantly, REALTOR.com visitors spend the most time interacting with Realtor® content," said NAR President Martin Edwards Jr., a partner in Colliers Wilkinson & Snowden, Inc., Memphis, Tenn.

"REALTOR.com is driving millions of potential homebuyers and sellers to Realtor listings each month," said Steve Ozonian, president of REALTOR.com. "Internal reports for July show that consumers conducted more than 24.5 million home searches on the site. REALTOR.com provides real estate professionals with an invaluable opportunity to connect with millions of consumers."

REALTOR.com, operated by Homestore, is the official Web site of the National Association of Realtors®. Ranked as the No. 1 homes-for-sale site, REALTOR.com currently offers potential homebuyers nearly 2 million homes listed for sale as well as the most brokers and agents to contact. The site also provides home sellers with the Internet's largest marketplace to reach millions of potential buyers.

The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing more than 800,000 members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

* Nielsen NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix (formerly known as Jupiter Media Metrix) are leading Internet traffic reporting organizations. Because of differing methodologies and statistical techniques employed, their numerical results, while highly comparable, may differ in a given month when reporting the same category.

Published: September 10, 2002

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