For Immediate Release
Property buyers increase their media options for research - especially online - The Nielsen Company
Auckland, 16 September 2009; Property buyers are taking advantage of the number of options available to research their
ideal piece of real estate according to a report by the Nielsen Company.
The Nielsen Annual Real Estate Market online survey of 1,206 property buyers found that researching real estate is no
longer just about circling newspaper ads –it’s also about spending hours on the internet every week, as well as reading
real estate magazines, flicking through brochures, looking at for sale signs and billboards, and browsing real estate
company window displays.
Property buyers seem to be taking more time to do their research before hitting the open-home circuit, with the internet
now their primary source of information. Those using the web are spending on average four and a half hours a week on
real estate websites, such as www.realestate.co.nz, www.trademe/property, and real estate sales company sites.
“However, it’s not that the internet is just sweeping in and taking over as the sole real estate information source,”
says Tony Boyte, Research Director of Nielsen New Zealand’s online division. “We’ve seen increases in popularity since
last year in most sources, including all of the internet-based research options, company real estate magazines, for-sale
signs to real-estate agents’window displays. The notable exceptions are newspapers and specialist real estate magazines,
although both of these mediums are still very popular for real estate research.”
The specialist real estate websites – realestate.co.nz and trademe/property –appear to take up most of the house
hunter’s time, accounting for an average of 172 minutes (almost three hours) a week. What’s more, 30% of those surveyed
said they planned to visit these sites even more frequently over the next six months.
House hunters also spent 110 minutes a week on search engines, and 106 minutes a week on the websites of real estate
sales companies, such as Harcourts and Barfoot & Thompson.
The increase in online property research is backed up by Nielsen Market Intelligence data that reports 15% more traffic
on real estate websites in May 2009 compared with May 2008. And the total amount of time spent by users on New Zealand
real estate websites has increased by 29% over the last year –following growth of 19% the previous year.
“The increased research taking place online is perhaps showing us that property buyers are getting a large amount of
their real estate information requirements ticked off via the web before utilising other media options, or physically
going to see the property itself,” says Boyte.
Note: The Nielsen Real Estate Market Report is based on a site-intercept survey on New Zealand real estate websites
conducted during May and June with a sample size of 1206 respondents and a margin of error of around 3%.
ENDS