Inman

Top 10 real estate websites in November

For the fifth straight month, Yahoo Real Estate in November was ranked the most popular real estate-related website, according to the latest rankings from Web metrics firm Experian Hitwise.

After dropping to third place in October, Realtor.com edged out Zillow to retake the No. 2 spot last month. Yahoo Real Estate lost some ground in November, capturing 7.02 percent of visits to the real estate category compared to 7.9 percent the month before. At the same time, both Realtor.com and Zillow increased their market share, to 6.78 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively.

Trulia stayed in fourth place with 5.62 percent of visits, followed by MSN Real Estate, which increased its market share to 3.21 percent in November, compared to 1.85 percent in October. Homes.com dropped to No. 7 while AOL Real Estate remained at No. 6. Both sites had a 2.72 percent market share last month.

Rent.com (1.61 percent), ZipRealty (1.3 percent) and MyNew Place (1.27 percent) rounded out the top 10, each retaining its ranking from the month before.

Hitwise reported that sites on its top 10 list captured nearly 39 percent of traffic among all real estate category websites in November.

That compares with the 9.4 percent combined market share of the next 10 most popular sites: LoopNet (1.19 percent), Apartment Guide (1.13 percent), Re/Max Real Estate (1.06 percent), Apartments.com (0.95 percent), Weichert.com (0.88 percent), Redfin (0.88 percent), HomeFinder (0.83 percent), Listingbook Services (0.83 percent), Rentals.com (0.83 percent), and ForRent.com (0.78 percent).

FrontDoor Real Estate, which had previously held the No. 12 spot, fell out of the top 20. ForRent.com moved up one spot to enter the top 20.

On average, users spent 8 minutes, 53 seconds on a visit to a real estate-related website in November, two seconds less than the month before.

Eight websites entered the top 100 last month: www.crye-leike.com (76th), Westfield Shopping Centres – United States (81st), GAMLS (85th), RatePlug (88th), Bank of America – Real Estate Center (95th), National Association of Realtors (97th), Property Shark (99th), and RealQuest (100th).

Eight sites left the top 100 in November: MyCheapApartments.com (122nd). MLSLI.com (101st), www.renttoowncentral.com (172nd), realestate.oodle.com (103rd), USAMLS.net (105th), Sublet.com (107th), MetroList MLS Prospector (106th), and LakeHouse.com (116th).

For the second month in a row, "zillow" was the top search term, with "realtor.com" coming in second. Among the top 10 real estate search terms tracked by Hitwise in November, they were the only two to account for more than 1 percent of search clicks (1.61 and 1.54 percent, respectively). Every other search term accounted for less than 1 percent of clicks.

The other most popular search terms in the real estate category were "trulia," "remax," "realtor," "zillow.com," "century 21," "homes for sale," "real estate," and "coldwell banker."

Among the fast-moving sites last month: Bank of America – Real Estate Center (up 84 places to 95th), Northern Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service (up 216 places to 274th), UltraForeclosures (up 85 places to 140th), Trading Places International (up 269 places to 482nd), The Rockwell Institute (up 281 places to 518th), Vacations Inc. (up 711 places to 1,213rd), Incline at Tahoe Realty (up 811 places to 1,424th), buyahome.co (up 274 places to 569th), and Realty Executives – Illinois (up 645 places to 1,287th).