Inman

Yahoo up, MSN down in latest Hitwise real estate site rankings

Yahoo Real Estate jumped four places in the ranking of most-visited real estate Web sites since December to number three on the list in January, behind second-place HomeGain.com and consistent leader Realtor.com, according to a report released today by Web metrics company Hitwise.

Realtor.com counterpart Move.com slid from second in December to eighth in January. Both sites are operated by Move Inc. MSN Real Estate dropped from 13th in the rankings in December to 18th in January.

Real estate foreclosure site RealtyTrac.com, which had dropped from the second-most-visited site in October to 17th on the list in December, moved up to 13th in the rankings in January. And Foreclosure.com, another site that tracks real estate foreclosure properties, joined the Hitwise real estate top-20 list in the 20th position. That site ranked 23rd in December.

Realtor.com dominated market share in the real estate category, drawing 9.08 percent of total visitors to real estate category Web sites, Hitwise reported. Second-place HomeGain had a 2.44 percent market share in January.

The 10 most-visited real estate Web sites drew 27.43 percent of all visits to real estate category Web sites in January, with 38.89 percent of visits going to the top 20 sites and 68.09 percent going to the top 100 sites. The January market share statistics are comparable to December, when 68.12 percent of visitors to real estate category sites went to the top 100 sites.

Eight real estate Web sites were new to the Hitwise top 100 list of real estate sites in January, including ForeclosuresToGo.com, which bumped up from 103rd in December to 79th in January; CirclePix.com, from 260th to 88th; RentalHomesPlus.com, from 105th to 90th; RealtyUSA.com, from 106th to 91st; NewHomeSource.com, from 107th to 93rd; UtahRealEstate.com, from 102nd to 95th; Crye-Leike.com, from 11th to 98th; and RedWeek.com, from 128th to 99th.

Sites leaving the top 100 list in January include Rentors.org, which fell from 50th in December to 850th in January; Westfield.com.au, from 64th to 152nd; Frontier.Cincinnati.com, from 76th to 110th; Euroresidentes.com, from 84th to 130th; LandWatch.com, from 97th to 128th; LandsOfAmerica.com, from 98th to 104th; RealEstateShows.com, from 99th to 105th; and GetMyTimeshareSold.com, from 100th to 200th.

“Realtor.com” ranked as the top search term that generated traffic at real estate Web sites, followed by “remax,” “homes for sale,” “apartments,” “real estate,” “century21,” “apartments for rent,” “zillow,” “zillow.com,” and “coldwell banker.”

Century21OldRichmond.com jetted up 1,117 places in the real estate category rankings, to 1,496th place; Pirates-Cove.com moved up 618 places to 1,062nd; TheShoreIslaMorada.com moved up 542 places to 400th; CoastalVacationResorts.com moved up 307 places to 644th; GrandStandVacations.com moved up 263 places to 478th; GardenCityRealty.com moved up 204 places to 430th.

Hitwise Top 20 Most Visited Real Estate Web Sites, January 2008

Source: Hitwise.