Yahoo Inc is upgrading its real estate site with a range of new features including current US home valuations and aerial neighbourhood views, the Internet media leader said on Tuesday.
The refreshed Yahoo Real Estate site (http://realestate.yahoo.com) gives users access to data on 3 million real estate listings, mainly from Prudential Real Estate, and comparative data on up to nearly 50 million homes from online property research start-up Zillow.com of Seattle.
Zillow's splashy entry into the market earlier this year has revived interest in online real estate sites, a segment that until recently had drawn little new investment since the dot-com era.
Beyond the cool maps and zoom-in neighbourhood images, what's driven the fascination with Zillow is the ability for users to keep up with the Joneses by figuring out what one's new neighbours paid for the mansion down the street.
Meanwhile, sites run by industry groups or established property companies have seen their share of the market slide as independent sites like Zillow or Trulia have risen up, according to data from Internet audience measurement firm Hitwise.
"Yahoo's move is partially defensive and also a recognition that there's a lot of innovation from a consumer standpoint out there in the market from the likes of RedFin, Trulia and Zillow," said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence in Oakland, California.
The No 1 ranked site, Realtor.com, official site of the National Association of Realtors, has fallen to a 10 percent share of the market, down from nearly 12 percent a year ago. Yahoo's real estate site has slipped over the last year to the 9th most visited US real estate site this month, from No 5 in terms of visits a year ago. Microsoft's MSN has risen to No 8 from 10 while Zillow has entered the ranks and shot to the No 5 most visited site, according to Hitwise.
Yahoo's service is being more tightly integrated into the Yahoo Search network allowing consumers to search for home valuations from a search box anywhere on the Yahoo site.
It also provides mortgage tools that link to local market rates and which have been aligned with Yahoo's search and maps technology. Yahoo's revamp of its real estate section also comes as most real estate analysts point to a slowdown in the US home market with lower home sales forecast for the second half of the year.
But executives believe that a housing slowdown might work in the site's favour as homebuyers and owners alike become more careful in making decisions on their next move in the market - requiring extra research.
Michael Yang, senior director of business for Yahoo Search and Marketplace, said "People need to be a little more focused when searching now. So having comprehensive search tools are more suited to this era than a boom period." A Yahoo executive said that house hunters were most interested in prices, proximity to local amenities such as schools and restaurants, financing options and home values.
Comments
Comments are closed.