The latest Nielsen/NetRatings shows that shopping for homes is one of the Internet's most popular activities. Nearly 10 percent of online surfers, or 12 million people, looked at either real estate or rental sites in March2003.

Nielsen//NetRatings calls itself the "global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis," and it reports on the usual big name real estate sites, but this month's surprise is that traditional franchise real estate sites made big gains in audience traffic and retention this year.

According to Nielsen, Century 21 jumped 24 percent with 979,000 visitors from home and work in March 2003. Surfers spent an average of 23 minutes at the site, up from nearly 16 minutes last year. RE/MAX attracted 767,000 visitors in March 2003, up 44 percent from March 2002. Coldwell Banker also made gains in traffic, posting 730,000 unique visitors in March 2003, as compared to 720,000 the year before.

Homeshoppers also hopped from one competitor to another. Of those visiting Coldwell Banker in March 2003, more than 25 percent of the audience traffic also went to RE/MAX. Twenty-eight percent of Coldwell Banker's audience traffic went to Century 21.

Maybe those national ads are paying off. Most of the major franchise brands have stepped up television advertising this year. In fact, Cendant's ERA brand recently won an advertising award for its TV ads depicting a dedicated agent who removes one blade of dead grass from the yard in order to take a perfect photo, and another agent who keeps grass in her car trunk. She replaces a divot caused by a yard sign when she takes the yard sign down as the home is sold.

Another possible reason for the franchise sites success is that many real estate portals have atrophied on the Internet. Lycos, one of the most important search engines, has just bailed out of the real estate business. There are no more listings, or a place to send listings or to advertise real estate on Lycos anymore. Also, some competitors, such as Homes.com and HomeSeekers, are no longer investing in their consumer portals anymore, preferring to concentrate on their products and services for agents instead. Why? Attracting consumers is expensive and consumers don't write checks, and advertising agents don't write enough checks either. Online agents who actively advertise are still limited to those who buy Web sites and virtual tours. The rest get by piggy-backing with Web pages on broker or franchise sites.

According to the National Association of REALTORS' Center for Realtor Technology, the percentage of Realtors who believe having a Web site and using the Internet has changed the way they do business has increased to 64 percent in 2003 from 50 percent in 2002. Although the cost of Web sites is perceived to be high, says the report, over 60 percent of REALTORS have a personal Web site, either their own or through their brokerage.

Says Patrick Thomas, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, "Real-time listings, virtual home tours and finance calculators make these sites content-rich sources and help homebuyers become better informed throughout the search and purchase process."

Targeted audience

Related Nielsen//NetRatings data shows that real estate sites target and capture a "highly qualified audience."

According to the latest spring 2003 data release, says Nielsen, 22.4 percent of the real estate sites' audience stated they were "definitely" or "probably" planning to purchase a new residence in the next 12 months. Nearly 32 percent were "definitely" or "probably" going to move in the next year, while 27 percent of the audience stated they'd be moving to a different home in the next year.

"Regardless of where people are in the buying or rental process, real estate sites offer valuable content and help streamline the arduous process," continues Thomas. "With a broad audience of qualified buyers, more of those looking to sell properties have begun to realize the benefits of posting online, in addition to traditional newspaper advertising."

Published: May 2, 2003

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