MSN Real Estate leaped four positions to break into a list of the top 10 most popular real estate Web sites in August, while AOL Real Estate and mlsfinder.com climbed into the top 20.
Bumped from the Hitwise Top 20 were Coldwell Banker Real Estate, which had previously slipped from 12th to 19th in July, and Listingbook Services, which ranked 17th in June and 20th in July.
The top eight real estate Web sites by market share in July held onto those positions in August, online metrics company Hitwise said. At the top of the list was Realtor.com, with a 7.12 percent market share — twice that of its nearest competitor in the category. Realtor.com’s market share was down from a peak of 9.66 percent in April, but still above the 6.68 percent measured in January.
Realtor.com was followed by Yahoo Real Estate (3.51 percent), Zillow (3.24 percent), ZipRealty (2.57 percent), Rent.com (2.29 percent), Trulia.com (2.09 percent), ServiceMagic (1.68 percent), and Homes.com (1.68 percent).
The battle for the next 12 positions on the Hitwise Top 20 was fierce, with eight sites losing ground and four rising in the rankings.
MSN Real Estate’s 1.62 percent market share made it the ninth most popular site, bumping Apartments.com from the Hitwise Top 10 into 11th place. RE/MAX Real Estate slipped to 10th despite growing its market share by seven basis points, to 1.54 percent. A basis point is one hundredth of a percent. …CONTINUED
On the bottom half of the top 20 list, AOL Real Estate climbed six positions to 16th, Century 21 Real Estate rose one position to 14th, and mlsfinder.com was up four positions to 20th. Falling one position were HUD.gov (12th), HomeGain (13th), MyNewPlace (15th), Apartment Guide (17th), RealtyTrac (18th) and ForRent.com (19th).
The top 10 Web sites cornered 27.7 percent of all visits to Web sites in the real estate category, Hitwise said, while the top 20 Web sites acounted for 39.1 percent of traffic. The top 100 sites in the category attracted 68.2 percent of all visitors.
Five sites entered the top 100: First Multiple Listing Service (83rd), i-RealEstateagents.com (88th), Euroresidentes (90th), HouseValues.com (97th), and Williams & Williams Auctioneers (99th).
Displaced from the top 100 were LandAndFarm.com (101st), Pulte Homes (106th), RealtyUSA (110th), Fidelity MLS Solutions (113th), and Curbed (132nd).
The most popular search terms in the real estate category included "Realtor.com," "real estate," "zillow," "remax," "century 21," "apartments for rent," "zillow," "homes for sale," "remax.com," and "houses for rent."
Fast-moving Web sites included Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America (up 45 places to 41st), HomeScape.com (up 17 places to 38th), Allhud (up 260 places to 260th), Canyon Gate Communities (up 666 places to 1,373), Lands of Illinois (up 1,64 places to 471), Tea Lane Associates (up 1,435 places to 679), Soundbuilt Homes (up 717 places to 1,548), Max Broock Realtors (up 491 places to 1,195), and HUDCLIPS (up 114 places to 309).
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