Does selling property online have a future, or is it just a flash in the proverbial pan, a fad like Hula Hoops and Rubik's Cube? Two branches of the Digital Property Group, Prime Location and Property Finder, as well as Zoopla and Rightmove are, according to Nielsen, receiving huge numbers of visitors. Here are the numbers of unique visitors to those property portals in January 2011:
1. Rightmove - 3,599,000
2. Zoopla - 1,923,000
3. FindaProperty - 1,619,000
4. Prime Location - 1,048,000
That's a total of well over 8 million people (not just visits) browsing just four property websites searching for properties for sale and to let in a 31 day period. Around 258,000 individuals each day and that doesn't even count the numerous return visits that each person may make. Rightmove receive over 40 million such visits per month alone.
Of potential homebuyers, it's now generally accepted, 93% are looking to find property online. And as far as marketing methods go, local newspapers' property pages and estate agents' windows have, well, gone. It's the end of the offline estate agency era. But can internet estate agency keep growing in popularity? Judging by the latest figures from Rightmove, the answer is a definite 'yes'.
In the three months to April 30th 2011, page impressions were up 15% on the same period the previous year, according to their latest interim performance report, which makes telling reading. On one day that number broke the daily page view record, which until then had stood at 28.3 million. In one day. Rightmove's phone app has been downloaded more than a million times since its launch in 2009, which explains why searches via mobile devices have risen by 200%. And Zoopla, a relative newcomer to the online estate agency game, tell us in their site information that they've received 11.9% more visitors this year than last.
Prime Location also has some interesting facts to consider: one in five of us, they say, is trying to find property online for an average of four hours each. The Office of National Statistics tells us that out of the UK's 50-million adult population, 30 million go online every day, or almost every day. This, then, equates to a third of internet users clicking on internet estate agents' websites on a regular basis.
As the population grows, not just in size but also dependence on the internet and mobile devices (it's said that 50% of us now own a smartphone, for example) and despite the growth in the number of online estate agents, it seems that our natural addiction of finding property online still has a long way to go before reaching saturation point.
1. Rightmove - 3,599,000
2. Zoopla - 1,923,000
3. FindaProperty - 1,619,000
4. Prime Location - 1,048,000
That's a total of well over 8 million people (not just visits) browsing just four property websites searching for properties for sale and to let in a 31 day period. Around 258,000 individuals each day and that doesn't even count the numerous return visits that each person may make. Rightmove receive over 40 million such visits per month alone.
Of potential homebuyers, it's now generally accepted, 93% are looking to find property online. And as far as marketing methods go, local newspapers' property pages and estate agents' windows have, well, gone. It's the end of the offline estate agency era. But can internet estate agency keep growing in popularity? Judging by the latest figures from Rightmove, the answer is a definite 'yes'.
In the three months to April 30th 2011, page impressions were up 15% on the same period the previous year, according to their latest interim performance report, which makes telling reading. On one day that number broke the daily page view record, which until then had stood at 28.3 million. In one day. Rightmove's phone app has been downloaded more than a million times since its launch in 2009, which explains why searches via mobile devices have risen by 200%. And Zoopla, a relative newcomer to the online estate agency game, tell us in their site information that they've received 11.9% more visitors this year than last.
Prime Location also has some interesting facts to consider: one in five of us, they say, is trying to find property online for an average of four hours each. The Office of National Statistics tells us that out of the UK's 50-million adult population, 30 million go online every day, or almost every day. This, then, equates to a third of internet users clicking on internet estate agents' websites on a regular basis.
As the population grows, not just in size but also dependence on the internet and mobile devices (it's said that 50% of us now own a smartphone, for example) and despite the growth in the number of online estate agents, it seems that our natural addiction of finding property online still has a long way to go before reaching saturation point.
About the Author:
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