Real Estate NewsCanadians Love Online House Hunting
More than half of Canadian adults with an Internet connection have used it to research houses for sale, and surfing for real estate is as popular as online banking and looking at job postings.
A new survey by Ipsos-Reid Corporation says that the number of Canadians researching real estate listings online has doubled in the last four years. It says millions of those surfing house listings are not planning to buy a house soon and have not made a purchase in the last two years. This group is looking at real estate sites out of curiosity or to stay on top of the market. However, nine per cent of those surveyed say they have purchased a home they discovered online.
The survey says that 36 per cent of those who look at real estate listings online have visited a property they found on the Web. Fourteen per cent have contacted an agent from an online listing, and 11 per cent say they submitted an offer on an online listing.
With 54 per cent of Canadian Internet users viewing online real estate listings, the activity is as popular as online banking (53 per cent) and looking at job postings (55 per cent).
While the public is embracing online real estate listings, some real estate agents and brokers are unhappy that so much information is available on the Internet. The same week that the survey was issued, a special meeting of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board was held to discuss the idea of delaying the uploading of listings to the Canadian Real Estate Association"s public website, mls.ca. Some Realtors feel the information on the website devalues the role of the Realtor in the public eye, and prompts the public to undercut commissions. Some buyer agents say that potential clients will see a house they like online and take their business directly to the listing agent. They suggested that if there was a delay in posting new listings to the website, it would give them time to present these listings to their clients.
Other Realtors feel that since they collected the listing information in the first place, and since Realtors pay to maintain the website, the public should pay a fee to view the listings.
However, members of the Fraser Valley board voted against delaying the listings, and also voted down a proposal to devote funds to a research project into the way listings are being used on the Internet.
The national real estate association"s website, msl.ca, is the most popular for real estate surfers, with 57 per cent visiting that site, according to the Ipsos-Reid survey. One of the main arguments against instituting a fee to view that site is that it would drive users to other sites. The survey shows that the Re/Max website is close behind mls.ca, with 54 per cent of surfers, followed by the Royal LePage website at 40 per cent. Among the other sites mentioned in the survey are Century 21 (32 per cent) and Coldwell Banker (12.5 per cent).
Those who surf the Internet for real estate listings say the greatest advantage is viewing other homes without having to leave their own home (25 per cent). Not having to deal with a real estate agent is cited as an advantage by 18 per cent of users, and the speed with which they are able to look at multiple listings is the biggest advantage for 17 per cent.
Consumers want to see more information than they currently get online, the survey reports. "Limited or incomplete information" was listed as the biggest disadvantage of house-hunting online by 22 per cent of users. Other disadvantages were "not being able to get a feel for the house" (13 per cent), and "not being able to see a house"s neighbourhood." (11 per cent)
"While the Internet is doing much to improve the overall house hunting experience, there is certainly room for improvement, says Chris Ferneyhough, vice-president of technology research at Ipsos-Reid. "Providing house hunters with more information about the house, the neighbourhood, local amenities, more pictures, and more video tours could convince even more house hunters to go online."
The most popular elements of real estate websites are picture tours of properties (83 per cent), video tours (46 per cent) and mortgage calculators (37 per cent), the survey says.
The study included 1,000 telephone interviews and 1,000 online interviews, and was conducted in June 2004.