More buyers will use the Internet than agents and even the home buyers using agents still use the Internet to supplement their home search.
As the old saying goes, “It’s good to be king.” And right now, News Corp, which in November 2014 purchased Move Inc., which in turn operates Realtor.com for the National Association of Realtors, finds itself in the enviable position of being “the world’s largest player” in online real estate.
Internet use on the increase
Lest you think online real estate is some pseudo term that looks impressive on paper but nothing in real life than think again. According to the National Association of Realtors, “nearly 74% of home buyers polled answered that they would use the Internet as part of their home search.” Think about the significance of this in terms of growth: More buyers will use the Internet than agents and even the home buyers using agents still use the Internet to supplement their home search. NAR points out further that “while online real estate research sites have not put real estate agents out of business, they have taken viewers away from the old traditional sources of information.”
This increased use of the internet as a real estate tool has fueled the growth of Realtor.com and as a result explains an article in businesswire.com, “News Corp is evolving rapidly into a more digital and increasingly global company with a diverse revenue mix that will drive long-term growth in profits and shareholder returns.”
News Corp Chief Executive Officer Robert Thomson proudly remarked that “The Company is, by most measures, the world’s largest player in digital real estate, a position certainly enhanced by the rapid growth in the U.S. of realtor.com.”
To the victor goes the spoils
News Corp said that the growth was driven by 57% growth in mobile users. News Corp also said that Realtor.com’s traffic accelerated in January to 50 million monthly unique users, or 34% growth year-over-year.
More specifically, in the second quarter, Move’s revenues increased 35% on a stand-alone basis to $87 million from $65 million in the prior year.
Not only that, based on Move’s internal data, average monthly unique users of realtor.com’s web and mobile sites for the quarter grew 37% year-over-year to approximately 39 million, which was driven by 57% growth in mobile users. Further, traffic accelerated in January to 50 million monthly unique users, or 34% growth year-over-year.
Coulda been a contender
Depending on which side of the river you want to water your horse, Zillow (which has been Realtor.com’s main competition for like, ever) claims that it actually represents more than 70% market share of all mobile-exclusive visitors to the real estate category. This despite a July 2015 report from Barclay’s that states Zillow is experiencing slow traffic growth due to a “function of audience saturation and new competition.
Comparatively, recent comScore data also showed that Realtor.com’s traffic in June 2015 surpassed Trulia’s traffic for the first time in two years.
Superficially it seems like tit-for-tat, but the truth is, competition is good for the real estate marketplace and for the time being, realtor.com is wearing the crown.
#OnlineRealEstate
