Realtor.com traffic surges in July

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 28, 2008 - Is this the real estate turnaround?

On the heels of an increase in Florida home sales, a spike in new home sales and an upswing in consumer confidence, traffic to Realtor.com went up significantly in July with month-over-month increases in both traffic (29 percent) and time spent on site (26 percent) on Realtor.com, the official consumer Web site of the National Association of Realtors. Year-over-year page views on Realtor.com and the Move Network increased by 22 percent and 11 percent, respectively, as consumers spent more time searching properties in popular and unexpected metro areas than they did this time last year.

Local markets in July experiencing the largest year-over-year percentage increases in consumer searches on Realtor.com included Stockton-Lodi, Calif. (140.9 percent), Las Vegas, Nev. (93.9 percent), Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Fla. (69.5 percent), Detroit, Mich. (51.8 percent) and Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV, VA (49.1 percent). Click here for the full list.

Lorna Borenstein, president of Move, Inc., the oversight company for Realtor.com, says that year-over-year traffic on Realtor.com increased by 9.5 percent, despite the fact that traffic within the real estate category declined by 1 percent, and consumers spent 24.7 percent more time in July on Realtor.com than on the next closest competitor.

Realtor.com currently offers potential home buyers access to over four million property listings, as well as the most brokers and agents.

Realtor.com Year over Year percentage increases in consumer searches in some of the markets serviced by Prudential Florida Realty:

Ft Myers - 69.5%
Naples - 66.2%
Miami-Dade - 56.7%
Sarasota-Bradenton - 44.7%
Fort Lauderdale - 44%
West Palm Beach/Boca Raton - 41.5%
Punta Gorda - 40.2%
Ft. Pierce-Port St. Lucie - 34%
Tampa-St. Pete - 28%
Orlando - 20%
Pensacola - 20%