The image to the left is a clip from ListTrac Web Insights for an MLS. ListTrac is now reporting metrics from nearly every major IDX vendor, the major portals, and the MLS systems including Black Knight, Matrix, FlexMLS, and Rapattoni – in total, over 100,000 real estate property search sites.
This particular report shows listing views. It should be no surprise that Zillow is the leading consumer site for viewing property. In most MLS areas, Zillow has more traffic than all other sites combined (which is true in this market).
Here are some interesting observations:
The MLS system matters
The MLS system is a major point of engagement for consumers who are home shopping. Moreover, consumers viewing property from the MLS system are working close enough with a real estate agent that the agent goes through the trouble of setting up their saved search. Of course, the MLS views will also include the research done by agents when they do searches. It is a hard number to dissect, much in the same way that traffic to Zillow is hard to dissect the intention of consumers on Zillow or other consumer sites.
Homes.com?
Homes.com was contested by Realtor.com when CoStar CEO, Andy Florence announced that Homes.com has garnered enough traffic to become the second highest ranking portal in America. Realtor.com CEO, Damian Eales stated in a podcast that Andy’s statement is easy to make “when you are grading your own homework.” WAV Group has not seen a ListTrac report that validates the claims of Mr. Florence in any market, but we have no reason to doubt him. If you have evidence – please pass it along.
Homesnap?
Sadly, Homesnap has also disappeared from these reports. Homesnap was the partner to the Broker Public Portal and was garnering tremendous traffic in many markets. Before the sale to CoStar, I believe that 1.2 million real estate agents were benefiting from their service through their MLS. I still do not understand why CoStar killed that product. As you can see, Zillow has retained Trulia, which is outperforming Homes.com in this market.
Who is IDX vendor Cyberitas?
A google search result of the company indicates that they are working with Anywhere brand Century 21. In this market, Century 21.com is slightly ahead of virtual tour vendor Property Panorama in terms of traffic, and slightly behind Homes.com in overall traffic. I found it interesting that Century 21 has more traffic than Coldwell Banker in this market. Typically, it is reversed.
The Power of IDX (or powerless IDX)
In terms of IDX vendors, Reliance Networks and MoxiWorks were tied, followed by IDX Broker and iHouseWeb. But overall, IDX is dwindling in terms of attracting consumers to search for properties. WAV Group believes that IDX vendors have failed to keep up with the portals in one key area: IDX sites do not display listings of all parcels. They only display the listings for sale, or recently sold (in many markets). Consumers love getting the listing information at the parcel level published by Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Homes.com, Movoto, Redfin; and the newly appointed sites by RE/MAX and Compass that have also become parcel centric.
If you are an MLS and would like help interpreting the ListTrac report and communicating that to your brokers, agents, or consumers – reach out to our team. WAV Group Communications can help.
If you are a broker – remember to log into ListTrac and look at how your listings are performing in the market. Share that information with your agents so they understand these numbers and remind them that ListTrac has seller reports that show where a client’s listing is being viewed.
Other ListTrac Data Points
ListTrac will also show you how many leads were generated off of listings, and which sites generated the most number of leads. They will also show visitor trends. You will be amazed at how much traffic dips in the MLS on weekends.
I love the top agent report. As you might expect, the agent with the most listings has the most views of their listings.
The geographic traffic report is fascinating. It allows you to look at where the consumer is searching from. This particular market has significant search traffic from the major Texas cities. The national narrative is that everyone is moving to Florida and Texas – but this area is attracting folks from Texas.
Last but not least are the most popular price points. Amounting to 70% of all search traffic in this market was for homes under $500,000.
As you can tell, I am a ListTrac fan. If you have it in your market, make a point to review it every month. Be sure to include it in your training and communications.
