The Search is Narrowing
The amount of time it takes to find a home is decreasing, though still elevated over a decade ago, and online search is largely to blame.
Back in 2001, it took just seven weeks to find a home, but by 2013 that time had almost doubled to 12 weeks. But per a recent NAR report, Real Estate in a Digital Age, that number now rests at 10 weeks. The average number of homes viewed was also 10—which was the same number they saw in 2013 when the process was a bit longer.
Consumers use of the internet seems to lengthen the process for the consumer, but not necessarily for the agent. Forty-four percent of all consumers started their search online (up from 38 percent last year), and that figure increases as the buyer gets younger—and younger buyers make up larger swaths of the overall buying population, according to NAR data.
Another unavoidably dominant trend: 72 percent of buyers are using their mobile device to find properties (though most aren’t using that device to find an agent)—up from 57 percent last year and 48 percent two years ago. Online, property photos and detailed information were naturally what buyers are looking for most, but 50 percent of respondents also said they found virtual tours very useful—up from 42 percent the year before and 40 percent two years ago. That figure is followed by neighborhood information and interactive maps at 44 and 41 percent.
While virtual tours are gaining steam, drones aren’t. Fifty-six percent of REALTORS® say they don’t use them, and only 18 percent say they plan to in the future. Only 3 percent personally use them.
