New buyer/seller survey from NAR

The National Association of Realtors today published their 2005 Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers. Some really interesting statistics and findings worth looking through.

Some highlights:

• 77 percent of home buyers use the Internet to search for a home (up from 74% in 2004)
• 24 percent of buyers first learned about their home via the Internet (up from 15% in 2004; 36% learned about the home from an agent)
• 81% of Internet shoppers used an agent, vs. just 63% of non-Internet shoppers
• Most important factors in choosing a home: 68% said neighborhood qualities, 43% said proximity to school and/or job; 23% said school district

Important to note the rising prominence of the Internet as a research tool for consumers, but also just how many of those Internet shoppers end up working with an agent.

Consumers who use the Internet are more likely to use an agent than those who don't.

What does your Internet strategy look like? Are you capturing your share of Internet-savvy home buyers and sellers?