2006: The Online Real Estate Renaissance

Zowie. Thirty-nine percent of adult internet users went online to look for real estate information in 2006 - according to a new Pew study released last week. While this shouldn't come as a surprise, I suppose, the shear volume is still striking.

More than half of internet users 18-29 have looked for housing info online. Nine percent looked for housing information on any given day. [ob aside: Maybe the only thing more ubiquitous is porn.]

Internet users who are looking for housing information have a vast and growing menu of resources at their fingertips. Much more specific housing information is readily available online than before, including access to Multiple Listing Services, which were formerly in the private domain of realtors, as well as new search-able housing databases, and even housing information on blogs. Also, layers of cross-referencing applications can help real-estate searchers flesh out their searches with maps, links to community information, monthly mortgage calculation tools, and links to virtual tours or photographs.

Two related data points from our own surveys show that users increasingly make use of internet offerings that might be housing-related: by August 2006, about half of all internet users (51%) have taken virtual tours, up from 45% in November 2004. Also, nearly one third of all internet users (30%) have used online classified ads or sites such as Craigslist, up from 22% in September 2005.

2006 was indeed a renaissance year for real estate online. Along with the illustrious premier of Altos Research, we saw Zillow, Real Estate ABC, Fidelity's Cyber Homes, drop their AVM data onto a map; Google Base, Edgio, Oodle and Vast, join Craigslist to nip at the heals of national MLS collections; Trulia, ShackPrices, RealBird, and HouseValues tackle homes on the map; Movoto, Redfin, Blue Roof, Catalist, BuySide, and many others join Zip in the online discounter space; Homethinking, BuyerHunt and many many others. We also saw the advent of the futures markets that we at Altos are so fond of: on the Merc, Inkling Markets, HedgeStreet.

But the Real Estate Blog Trumps All

Pew gives it only a passing mention, but the exploding real estate blogosphere is above and beyond anything contribution measurable by any of the firms above. We'll predict that Pew could in 2007, if they chose to, measure real estate consumers using blog-found knowledge and relationships as the Internet resource second only to the listings themselves. (The trick here is that many consumers will find their Realtor and decision making information and never even realize a blog was the source or the catalyst.)

Rain City Guide is the granddaddy and case study A for local Realtor blogging. 2006 saw many dozens of Realtors join their ranks to build their brands online. But you could just as easily see the impact that the Matrix blog has had on Jonathan Miller's business and reputation. I don't know any financial numbers, but I do know that Miller has gone from a New York city presence to a national powerhouse in one year.

In 2006 we watched entire firms building their businesses around the blog: Sellsius, RSS Pieces, Transparent RE, The Tomato, Future of Real Estate Marketing. Remarkable, useful, valuable. And just beginning.

Of course it's no coincidence the explosion in usage parallels the explosion in resources. We're swirling in a virtuous cycle. At the risk of touching an open nerve, I'll make the parallel to global trade. The more it happens the more we all prosper. Everyone wins. We live in an undeniably exciting time.

Let's not forget that these success stories are blossoming in an offline real estate market that is most charitably described as "changing."

Here's to 2007 that carries us the next order of magnitude in prosperity.