Contents:

Foreword by Kip Cassino Executive Summary Chapter 1: Ad Spending Goes Flat, but not for Online Chapter 2: Lead Generators, Search Engines Muscle In Chapter 3: Mortgage Advertising: Twice as Big, and Along for The Ride Conclusions Graphs and Charts Fig. 1: Top 15 Real Estate Web Sites, Combined Home & Work Fig. 2: Real Estate Advertising 2003-2005p Fig. 3: Real Estate Ad Spending: Online Media Will Surpass Newspapers in 2009 Fig. 4: Ad Revenue per Home Sold, Newspapers v. Online Fig. 5: Real Estate Ad Spending, 1999-2009 Fig. 6: Who's Sharing $1.8 Billion in Online Real Estate Advertising Fig. 7: Top Search Engines for Real Estate Information Fig. 8: Search Engine Results: Sample Real Estate Keyword Bidding in 37 Markets Fig. 9: Number of Local and National Advertisers Bidding for Selected Search Terms on Google in 37 Cities Fig. 10: Online Becomes the Dominant Platform for the Mortgage Category by 2009 Fig. 11: Mortgage Category Online Spending Swells Fig. 12: Top 20 Spending Categories for Local Online Advertising, 2005

Summary:

As home sales, house values and mortgage refinancing soar, the Internet has evolved into the most powerful consumer research tool in the entire process. Real estate Web sites have become popular destinations that are apparently fueling more dream than reality: At any given time, about one percent of the adult population is actively seeking a home that they will purchase within the year. In April, nearly 20 percent of the population had visited a real estate site. Despite the excitement, overall real estate advertising has been sluggish. This year we are projecting that $11.4 billion will be spent, up just 2.2 percent from last year. The real story is revealed by looking inside the numbers: A major shift continues to erode the traditional advertising foundation of newspapers, homes magazines, direct mail and directories, while the online segment gobbles up share. This year's online ad sales will hit $1.8 billion, for a 15.7 percent share of ad dollars. If the trends continue – and we expect they will – by 2009 the online media share will surpass that of the long-time leader, newspapers. Online advertising spent per home sold has already reached $210, more than one-third of the newspaper ad spend. The online real estate bonanza hasn't gone unnoticed by the search engines. They are cultivating relationships with the listings aggregators as well as the major brokerage firms and agents, teaching them how to use sponsored listings to gain traffic and leads. As a result, paid listings on real estate search pages have exploded. Competitors are paying well over $1 for a single click – and as much as $6 in some cities – to lure potential home buyers to their sites. This year real estate advertisers will spend more than $500 million on paid search listings. What's more remarkable is that this form of advertising didn't even exist three years ago. New leaders are emerging within this online space. The biggest winners are the ones who are willing to be paid for performance, not for merely placing a listing in front of a mass audience. They generate leads, they drive traffic and they help their advertisers manage the process.