Earlier this year we took our first few looks at the top players in the US property portal market. It's now time to update what is happening with US property portals.
Overall not much has changed in the US market. It continues to be fragmented with the top 3 players accounting for just over 50% of the key metrics. The remaining 17 players fight it out over the remaining 50% or so of each of the key metrics.
Overall it is Zillow that leads most metrics with Realtor.com, Trulia and realestate.yahoo.com sharing 2 - 4th place.
While we look at the rankings of the top 20 players through a number of metrics below, total time on site is probably the single best way to determine leadership at it combinations traffic and engagement. Total time on site takes into account visits (a combination of unique visitors and frequency) as well as what they do on the site once they are there - in this case average session duration.
On this measure we see that Zillow.com has just over 21% of the total time spent visiting the top 20 sites with realtor.com close behind with just over 20%. Trulia is solidly in 3rd place with realestate.yahoo.com in 4th. Then there is a raft of players from homes.com with 8% through to caldwellbanker with 1%. It is clear to see why no one is make the same level of revenues or profits as the major players do in Australia, the UK, France, and Germany. A fragmented, competitive market will always kill profits.
TToS (m) | % TToS | |
zillow.com | 465.8 | 21.4% |
realtor.com | 444.3 | 20.4% |
trulia.com | 309.3 | 14.2% |
realestate.yahoo.com | 174.0 | 8.0% |
homes.com | 142.0 | 6.5% |
redfin.com | 106.4 | 4.9% |
ziprealty.com | 88.8 | 4.1% |
realetate.msn.com | 74.6 | 3.4% |
listingbook.com | 55.5 | 2.5% |
rent.com | 36.2 | 1.7% |
remax.com | 34.7 | 1.6% |
apartments.com | 32.9 | 1.5% |
apartmentguide.com | 32.8 | 1.5% |
hotpads.com | 29.2 | 1.3% |
forrent.com | 28.3 | 1.3% |
century21.com | 27.5 | 1.3% |
weichert.com | 26.1 | 1.2% |
homefinder.com | 24.2 | 1.1% |
rentals.com | 24.0 | 1.1% |
caldwellbanker.com | 22.8 | 1.0% |
Note: TToS = Total Time on Site (Visits x Average Session Duration)
All numbers in this document are prepared using Google Ad Planner's May 2012 numbers.
Traffic
On a pure traffic (unique visitors) to the site basis, zillow.com and realestate.yahoo.com are neck and neck. However, from an advertiser perspective, it is win win with zillow distributing listings to realestate.yahoo.com. Realtor.com and Trulia share third place.
UV (users) (m) | |
zillow.com | 12.0 |
realestate.yahoo.com | 12.0 |
realtor.com | 8.1 |
trulia.com | 8.1 |
realetate.msn.com | 6.1 |
homes.com | 3.8 |
redfin.com | 2.3 |
apartmentguide.com | 1.6 |
ziprealty.com | 1.5 |
rent.com | 1.5 |
remax.com | 1.3 |
apartments.com | 1.3 |
hotpads.com | 1.2 |
forrent.com | 1.2 |
mynewplace.com | 1.2 |
rentals.com | 1.1 |
century21.com | 1.0 |
listingbook.com | 0.9 |
weichert.com | 0.9 |
homefinder.com | 0.9 |
Note: UV = Unique Visits
When looking at the change between January and May, only zillow has managed to maintain traffic levels. The others, with realtor.com in particular, have all slipped back.
Unique Visitors (Users) (m) | |||
May-12 | Jan-12 | % Change | |
zillow.com | 12.0 | 12.0 | 0% |
realestate.yahoo.com | 12.0 | 13.0 | -8% |
trulia.com | 8.1 | 9.1 | -11% |
realtor.com | 8.1 | 9.9 | -18% |
On a visits basis, Zillow is clearly in front of realestate.yahoo.com with realtor.com and trulia in 3rd and 4th place. Interestingly Zillow only captures 19% of the visits to the top 20 sites and doesn't dominate its market as realestate.com.au does in Australia (with 60%) and as rightmove does in the UK (with 56%).
Visits (m) | % Visits | |
zillow.com | 43.0 | 19.1% |
realestate.yahoo.com | 36.0 | 16.0% |
realtor.com | 31.0 | 13.8% |
trulia.com | 29.0 | 12.9% |
realetate.msn.com | 14.0 | 6.2% |
homes.com | 12.0 | 5.3% |
redfin.com | 11.0 | 4.9% |
ziprealty.com | 7.4 | 3.3% |
listingbook.com | 5.2 | 2.3% |
rent.com | 4.1 | 1.8% |
apartmentguide.com | 4.1 | 1.8% |
remax.com | 4.0 | 1.8% |
apartments.com | 3.4 | 1.5% |
hotpads.com | 3.3 | 1.5% |
forrent.com | 3.2 | 1.4% |
mynewplace.com | 3.1 | 1.4% |
rentals.com | 3.0 | 1.3% |
century21.com | 2.8 | 1.2% |
weichert.com | 2.7 | 1.2% |
homefinder.com | 2.5 | 1.1% |
Over the 5 months between January and May, Zillow has increased visits by 10% and trulia by 7%, while realestate.yahoo.com has stayed flat and more concerningly, realtor.com has slipped backwards by 3%.
Visits (m) | |||
May-12 | Jan-12 | % Change | |
zillow.com | 43.0 | 39.0 | 10% |
realestate.yahoo.com | 36.0 | 36.0 | 0% |
realtor.com | 31.0 | 32.0 | -3% |
trulia.com | 29.0 | 27.0 | 7% |
When looking at frequency of visit, the top 4 has a very different look. Only realtor.com remains with 3.8 visits per month. Listingbook is out front with a massive 5.7 visits per month and ziprealty with just under 5 visits per month. In markets where the leaders dominate - realestate.com.au and rightmove both have a frequency of 5 x per month.
Frequency | |
listingbook.com | 5.7 |
ziprealty.com | 4.9 |
redfin.com | 4.8 |
realtor.com | 3.8 |
zillow.com | 3.6 |
trulia.com | 3.6 |
homes.com | 3.2 |
remax.com | 3.1 |
realestate.yahoo.com | 3.0 |
estately.com | 2.9 |
foreclosure.com | 2.9 |
weichert.com | 2.9 |
caldwellbanker.com | 2.9 |
century21.com | 2.8 |
forsalebyowner.com | 2.8 |
hotpads.com | 2.8 |
homefinder.com | 2.7 |
rent.com | 2.7 |
rentals.com | 2.7 |
realtytrac.com | 2.7 |
Engagement
The second measure of success is the level of engagement a site has with its users. This is best viewed through page impression, average page impressions per visit and average session duration.
On a page impression basis the trulia moves into second place with 19% of the page impressions to the top 20 players. Zillow remains on top with realtor.com in 3rd place. Interestingly, realestate.yahoo.com slides to 5th place with just 6% of the page impressions - even though it has just as many Unique Visitors as Zillow.
PI (m) | % PI's | |
zillow.com | 500.0 | 21.0% |
trulia.com | 450.0 | 18.9% |
realtor.com | 400.0 | 16.8% |
homes.com | 150.0 | 6.3% |
realestate.yahoo.com | 140.0 | 5.9% |
realetate.msn.com | 130.0 | 5.5% |
redfin.com | 98.0 | 4.1% |
hotpads.com | 88.0 | 3.7% |
listingbook.com | 74.0 | 3.1% |
ziprealty.com | 67.0 | 2.8% |
century21.com | 55.0 | 2.3% |
remax.com | 38.0 | 1.6% |
rent.com | 34.0 | 1.4% |
weichert.com | 34.0 | 1.4% |
apartments.com | 26.0 | 1.1% |
rentals.com | 23.0 | 1.0% |
apartmentguide.com | 21.0 | 0.9% |
caldwellbanker.com | 20.0 | 0.8% |
homefinder.com | 19.0 | 0.8% |
mynewplace.com | 18.0 | 0.8% |
Over the last 5 months, trulia and realestate.msn.com have been the big movers. Both have delivered double digit growth in page impressions. On the flip side, homes.com has dropped a massive 29%.
Page Impressions (m) | |||
May-12 | Jan-12 | % Change | |
zillow.com | 500.0 | 490.0 | 2% |
trulia.com | 450.0 | 410.0 | 10% |
realtor.com | 400.0 | 410.0 | -2% |
homes.com | 150.0 | 210.0 | -29% |
realestate.yahoo.com | 140.0 | 160.0 | -13% |
realetate.msn.com | 130.0 | 110.0 | 18% |
On a page impressions / visit basis, hotpads has delivered a staggering 26 pages per visit, well a head of century 21 with trulia coming in 3rd place. Zillow slips all the way to 8th place raising some questions about the level of engagement between visitors and the zillow site.
PI/Visit | |
hotpads.com | 26.7 |
century21.com | 19.6 |
trulia.com | 15.5 |
listingbook.com | 14.2 |
realtor.com | 12.9 |
weichert.com | 12.6 |
homes.com | 12.5 |
zillow.com | 11.6 |
remax.com | 9.5 |
realtytrac.com | 9.3 |
realetate.msn.com | 9.3 |
ziprealty.com | 9.1 |
redfin.com | 8.9 |
caldwellbanker.com | 8.3 |
condo.com | 8.3 |
rent.com | 8.3 |
rentals.com | 7.7 |
apartments.com | 7.6 |
homefinder.com | 7.6 |
foreclosure.com | 7.3 |
Finally, when looking at the average session times, realtor.com leads the way reflecting the high levels of listings from around the country. This is a good indicator for the business, they just need to work out how to drive more traffic to the site if they really want to challenge zillow for leadership.
AveTime (min) | |
realtor.com | 14.3 |
ziprealty.com | 12.0 |
homes.com | 11.8 |
zillow.com | 10.8 |
listingbook.com | 10.7 |
trulia.com | 10.7 |
century21.com | 9.8 |
redfin.com | 9.7 |
weichert.com | 9.7 |
homefinder.com | 9.7 |
apartments.com | 9.7 |
condo.com | 9.7 |
caldwellbanker.com | 9.5 |
hotpads.com | 8.8 |
rent.com | 8.8 |
forrent.com | 8.8 |
remax.com | 8.7 |
rentals.com | 8.0 |
apartmentguide.com | 8.0 |
estately.com | 7.3 |