Zillow enters cold season, but traffic still up over last year |
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Zillow enters cold season, but traffic still up over last year
The end of the peak home-buying season coupled with a deadline in the first time home buyer tax credit slowed Zillow.com's traffic slightly during October, but compared with this time last year, things are still golden.
Amy Bohutinsky, vice president of communications at Zillow, said a dip in traffic around this time of year--7.9 unique users in September 2009 to 7.8 unique users in October 2009--is nothing unusual. She said that it was an unusual year in the real estate market, however, and this drove Zillow's traffic beyond expectations.
"Falling home prices, low mortgage rates and government incentives like loan modifications and the first time home buyer tax credit meant a lot of questions for homeowners and potential buyers," she said via email. "People are flocking online for answers and advice."
The first time home buyer tax credit was for home purchases between January 1 and November 30, 2009, she said. But homes had to close by the end of November, meaning a purchase needed to be made in August or September.
"Thus you had lots of new buyers searching for homes in the Spring and Summer months, with this tapering off in September as the deadline neared," she said.
Still, a year-over-year comparison of September and October of this year compared with last year shows traffic up on Zillow.com by 48 percent and 43 percent, respectively. (Zillow disputes some of the numbers from third party reporting services, and provided TechFlash with its internal numbers).
The first time home buyer tax credit has recently been extended, allowing buyers to purchase a home by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30, 2010. Bohutinsky said it will be interesting to see what that extension will do for the traffic numbers going forward.
Zillow's traffic peak so far this year was in May. It saw 8.9 million unique viewers that month, which is 72 percent higher than May 2008.
Zillow derives much of its revenue through online advertising, so traffic numbers are important to the Seattle Internet company. However, as we reported late last week, the company also has begun experimenting with a new service to pass potential leads on to mortgage lenders.
Camden Swita is an editorial intern at the Puget Sound Business Journal
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