Downturn ad spending: Zig or zag?

With the latest numbers from HUD and the Census Bureau showing home sales continue to slow, will realtors, mortgage lenders and others in the industry reduce spending on online advertising and leads, or jack it up in a bid to claim a share of the dwindling number of buyers?

Joel Burslem has been following the issue for some time on Future of Real Estate Marketing. His last post on the topic rounds up several media reports suggesting that Internet ad spending will go down.

Others -- such as Eric Bader of MediaVest, quoted in a recent Financial Times article -- say online advertising will continue to grow as Web sites take market share from TV, newspapers and radio, where return on investment is harder to measure.

Another recent piece in SmartMoney, "Bankrate thrives in mortgage mayhem"  notes the provider of mortgage and bank rates raised its hyperlink ad rates between 15 percent and 25 percent this summer. While mortgage accounted for a amaller percentage of total traffic to the company's site, "mortgage and refinance activity was still strong," the story said, while traffic to pages providing rates on deposits grew.

It would be interesting to hear from other Web destinations about what's happening to your real estate ad revenue.

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