17 Vital Real Estate Marketing Statistics
Gina is a licensed real estate salesperson, experienced trainer, and former high school educator of 1,000+ learners. She writes for Fit Small Business with a focus on real estate content.
Jealie is a staff writer at Fit Small Business, specializing in real estate education.
This article is part of a larger series on How to Become a Real Estate Agent.
The popularity of digital marketing, including social media and websites, continues to rise—offering cost-effective and more efficient ways to increase brand awareness, engagement, and organic website traffic. However, offline traditional marketing tactics, like newspaper ads and direct mails, are still proven to be effective when it comes to driving lead generation and conversion. We’ve compiled 17 of the most critical real estate marketing statistics to guide you in growing your real estate business.
General Real Estate Marketing Statistics
Real estate marketing statistics provide insights into the market condition as well as the marketing trends of homesellers and buyers. Real estate professionals should take note of these statistics and adapt their marketing strategies to reach a target audience effectively and discover more opportunities to generate leads.
1. In 2021, 97% of buyers used the internet to search for a home
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 41% of recent buyers’ first step in the homebuying process was to search online. And during the search, a total of 97% used the internet in their home search, covering all age groups. When asked where they conducted their internet searches, 50% of homebuyers said they conducted their searches on a desktop or laptop, and another 50% on a mobile device.
Key takeaways:
- Consumers depend on the internet for day-to-day tasks like research, digital transactions, and communications. Hence, expect a continuous increase in real estate homebuyers searching online.
- Take advantage of this trend by strengthening your online marketing efforts, which include submitting and connecting your website to Google Analytics and Search Console for indexing. This builds your brand presence online, boosts online search for websites and listings, and attracts organic traffic.
2. Websites are the most popular marketing channel at 90.7%
Based on Ruler Analytics’ Marketing Attribution and Reporting Analysis 2021, the top three key marketing channels are websites (90.7%), blog content (89.2%), and email marketing (69.2%). However, many marketers still continued to use offline channels, such as events, press, and print marketing.
Key takeaways:
- A website helps real estate professionals create brand awareness, establish an image, and provide reliable information to clients—setting your business apart from the competitors. Real estate website builders like GoDaddy and Placester enable agents to generate leads, optimize marketing campaigns, and simplify transaction management.
- Create agent-specific or listing websites to build your brand and gain exposure for your real estate business. Check out the best real estate agent website examples to find inspiration and learn how to launch your own website.
You can also read through the Top 6 Real Estate Website Builders to know which are the best real estate website builders are for you.
3. 51% of buyers found homes they purchased on the internet
Most generations, excluding the silent generation (76 to 96 years old), found the home they purchased through the internet (51%). In addition, 28% of buyers found the home they bought through real estate agents, and 7% were through yard signs or open house signs. The silent generation was more likely to find their first home through a real estate agent.
Key takeaways:
- When compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing has an advantage as it is not only more cost-effective, but also has the capability to reach a broader target market in a shorter time frame.
- Real Geeks is a real estate marketing company that offers agents and brokerages affordable services to generate leads, market properties, and expand social media marketing. You can also visit Fiverr to find and hire freelance professionals to design your collateral, build your website, or run your online marketing campaigns.
To discover real estate marketing companies and know how they can help, read this article: 6 Best Real Estate Marketing Companies.
4. Staged homes sold approximately 9 days faster (than those that were not)
A 2021 survey of 4,600 properties showed that staged homes sold approximately nine days faster than the average days on the market and had a 73% sell over list price. The average staging investment of 1.3% resulted in a 7.1% over-list return on investment and sold for an average of $40,000 more than the asking price.
Furthermore, 23% of buyer’s agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered by 1% to 5%, compared to other similar homes on the market that did not stage.
Key takeaways:
- Staging a home enhances the overall value of your property, allowing potential buyers to see the place in its best condition. By providing a visual of a well-maintained and decorated home, a buyer will get a lasting first impression and be able to visualize the property as a home they could be living in.
- Sell your property faster and at a higher price by knowing your buyer and setting a budget, then stage your home to attract more qualified buyers. Follow these home staging steps that guarantee a quick sale.
5. Drones are the most impactful emerging marketing technology
According to the 2021 Technology Survey conducted by NAR, respondents believed that, in the next 24 months, drones (37%), cybersecurity (34%), 5G (31%), and virtual reality (30%) are going to be the most impactful emerging technologies for real estate businesses. Using drone footage when selling a property is an effective method to gain sellers’ and buyers’ interest and close a deal.
Key takeaways:
- Invest in drones to capture aerial photography and footage of the property’s overall appearance and quality. Drone footages enable clients to make an informed assessment of the space and distinctive features of the property.
- Drone pricing starts at around $300 and goes up from there, and hiring a professional drone photographer can be around $1,000 or more. However, using drone marketing to attract potential customers shows that you understand the latest technologies and lets you stand out from the competition.
- Consider hiring professional drone services like Dronegenuity to achieve high-quality photos and videos.
Print & Direct Mail Marketing Statistics
Effective real estate print marketing strategy entails a low-cost, high-return, and easy-to-measure method of generating leads and increasing lead conversion rates. Print and direct mail statistics show that print is still a valuable and trustworthy source of information, especially newspapers, magazines, postcards, and direct mail.
6. 42% of respondents found print advertising trustworthy
According to Statista, 42% of respondents found print advertising trustworthy, compared to only 29% who trusted search engine advertising and 18% who trusted websites. This data shows that consumers’ trust is still very much geared toward print marketing, having earned credibility in the eyes of their audience over the years.
Key takeaways:
- Real estate professionals have so many options for print and direct marketing, like postcards, brochures, newsletters, signs, flyers, and newspaper ads. Agents should evaluate their farm area to decide which mailers will be best to capture their target audience.
- To design your marketing materials, seek a freelance professional from Fiverr. For as low as $5, agents can work with freelancers who specialize in creating custom market campaigns that can generate leads and build brand awareness.
7. Direct mail has a 112% return on investment (ROI)
The best response from customers is still obtained from direct mail, with 112% ROI. It is closely followed by SMS (102%), the method marketers utilize most frequently, and email (93%). Social media usage increased by 17% compared to the previous survey, reaching 74% in 2021.
Key takeaways:
- Combining direct mail with email has proven to be the most effective in boosting results, as response and click-through rates significantly improve when these channels are combined.
- Investing in real estate direct mail services like ProspectsPLUS! helps real estate professionals maximize the use of printed materials, like postcards and brochures, to reach their target market. These platforms let you personalize templates to match your brand and offer options for bulk or overnight mailing.
- Include professionally printed business cards in your direct mails to establish a trustworthy image and grab your prospect’s attention. Check out VistaPrint if you’re looking for an affordable yet high-quality printing service.
See our 20 Direct Mail Marketing Ideas to Use in 2022 to boost your business and generate unique ideas to connect with your potential leads and clients directly.
Email Marketing Statistics
Real estate email marketing is used to promote properties, develop client relations, and reach out to potential leads. It is one of the most cost-efficient and conversion-rich forms of digital marketing today. Real estate professionals must know and understand how to leverage email to maintain engagement with leads and clients and increase website visitors.
8. Email generates a $42 ROI
Real estate email marketing offers the best value of all available marketing channels. According to recent email marketing data by Litmus, a dollar invested in email marketing will result in a $42 ROI in 2021. In addition, the use of dynamic real estate content in email, like images, GIFs, and videos, can increase ROI by 100%.
Key takeaway:
- A well-thought-out email marketing strategy increases the chances of delivering a strong ROI. If agents and brokerages are breaking even or making even more money for every email they send, they can increase spending and allocate money to different parts of their business.
- Utilizing Market Leader and Pipedrive also provides agents and brokers with a multistep sales cycle with an intuitive visual pipeline. Additionally, it supports automated lead generation and email campaigns.
Read 7 Effective Real Estate Email Marketing Strategies & Tools to know more about how to optimize your real estate email marketing, increasing ROI.
9. Email marketing is used by 64.1% of small businesses
According to Campaign Monitor’s email marketing study, the second-most common marketing tactic for small businesses is that 64.1% of small firms use email promotions. Only social media, where 69.6% of small businesses claim to advertise, surpasses email in popularity.
Key takeaway:
- Email marketing enables real estate professionals to stay in contact with their clients, reach audiences in real time, increase brand awareness, and allow for targeted messaging.
- Agents should consider using email marketing tools like HubSpot to maximize conversion. HubSpot provides affordable and simple-to-use email campaign design, automation, lead nurturing and triggered emails, landing sites, and integrated customer relationship management (CRM).
Read and download our 8 Ready-to-Use Real Estate Email Marketing Templates to get started with your email campaign.
Social Media Marketing Statistics
Over the last two decades, social media has become a primary real estate marketing channel. With a massive user base, Facebook remains an advertising powerhouse, allowing real estate professionals to target local homesellers and buyers in their area. These social media marketing statistics will assist real estate professionals in maximizing various social media platforms, especially Facebook, to demonstrate the value they can provide to clients.
10. Social media yields the highest number of quality leads
According to NAR’s 2021 Technology Survey, social media (52%), CRM (31%), and their MLS (multiple listing service) site (28%) were the top three tech platforms that provided agents with the most excellent quality leads in the last 12 months. In contrast, personal blogging or business/brokerage websites garnered the lowest percentage of tech tools that have given agents and brokers quality leads.
Key takeaways:
- Real estate social media marketing is a potent and free method to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, and improve community engagement. Real estate professionals can yield quality leads on social media and grow their clientele and revenue with strategies like repurposing content for each platform.
- Check out the 8 Best Real Estate Social Media Marketing Companies that provide content creation, advertising, and automation expertise to ensure your marketing produces quality leads and engagement.
11. 90% of realtors use Facebook to promote their business
90% of realtors utilize Facebook as their primary social media platform to expand their online presence, cultivate and maintain connections with current clients, and promote listings. However, some real estate professionals also use Instagram (52%), LinkedIn (48%), and YouTube (24%) to supplement their Facebook usage to find new prospects, increase inbound traffic, and improve search engine rankings.
Key takeaway:
- As Facebook maintains its position as a top digital real estate marketing platform, attract potential customers and develop your brand by creating a Facebook business page with a captivating title, description, and high-quality graphics.
- Add a call to action (CTA) button to your Facebook page and customize your page’s tabs to generate real estate leads and grow your client base. Follow this article on How to Set Up a Real Estate Facebook Page in 9 Steps to optimize your Facebook profile for engagement.
Video Marketing Statistics
Videos are one of the most popular forms of content consumption. Consumers’ online video consumption soared by 96% in 2022, and 90% of viewers stated they wanted to see more videos from businesses in the market. These real estate video marketing statistics will help real estate professionals effectively leverage video content to increase inquiries and quality leads.
12. Inquiries for listings with videos had a 403% increase
Property videos and walk-throughs became even more prominent starting in 2020, as travel and quarantine regulations made physical touring properties very difficult. As a result, real estate property listings with video received a 403% increase in inquiries compared to property listings without a video. Also, embedded video drives 157% more organic search results to website traffic.
Portland Oregon Real Estate (Source: Pienovi Properties at Windermere Realty Trust)
Key takeaways:
- Property listings with videos are more appealing, engaging, and authentic. Showcasing all the property’s highlights and flaws make listing videos more trustworthy.
- Use different real estate marketing videos, like neighborhood tours, walk-throughs, and educational videos, to post on social media and display prominently on your website to attract and educate leads.
- Consider using a real estate video marketing platform like BombBomb. It provides real estate professionals unlimited video emails, a mobile app, and robust video tools, like mass sending and advanced analytics.
13. YouTube is the most popular video marketing platform
According to HubSpot, YouTube is the most widely used platform among video marketers at 88%, with a considerable gap to the next platforms, LinkedIn and Instagram video, at 68%. Surprisingly, only 6% of the marketers use Snapchat videos to promote and showcase their products or services.
Key takeaway:
- YouTube is currently the most popular video website in the world, with millions of users daily. Use video editing tools like Animoto, which provides premade and customized video templates, stock images, and music to create high-quality short and home tour videos.
- Use Semrush, a search engine optimization (SEO) tool, to help you find the best real estate words to boost your channel’s traffic and ranking.
If you want more ways to generate highly targeted YouTube real estate leads, read our 11 Ways to Use YouTube for Real Estate Lead Generation.
Website Marketing Statistics
As people spend more time on online channels than ever, website marketing is critical to today’s real estate professionals. Knowing website marketing statistics will help real estate agents and brokers determine where they need to invest more time and resources. These statistics will also help them keep track of critical trends and the impact of marketing efforts to ensure their marketing campaign success.
14. Organic & paid searches drive 57% of website visitors
Search engine marketing, especially on Google, has enabled realtors to reach out to people looking for a new home or property. Real estate marketers have shifted their focus to local SEO to drive visitors to their physical locations, while encouraging online leads, resulting in organic and paid searches accounting for 57% of website visitors.
Key takeaways:
- Search engine marketing is one of the best ways to increase real estate website traffic, grow your online presence, and enhance your brand awareness and visibility. This, in turn, results in online leads and generates sales. Learn more about this strategy through this article.
- Real estate agents must use high-value keywords and the best keyword research tool, like Semrush. This tool has the most extensive keyword database of any keyword research tool, which helps you gain more visibility on Google, resulting in an increase in website performance and traffic.
To improve your website ranking, follow these real estate SEO tips to improve your local SEO and increase your website traffic, and check out the best local SEO (search engine optimization) services.
15. 59% of all Google search traffic comes from mobile devices
In the 1st quarter of 2021, 59% of all organic Google search traffic came from mobile devices. This is compared to 2013, with only 27% of Google traffic coming from mobile devices. This implies that 32% of all organic searches on Google have increased over the past eight years. That rate has steadily risen as smartphones have become increasingly prevalent.
Key takeaways:
- People carry their cell phones with them everywhere they go. As a result, real estate agents and brokers must prioritize mobile users because they increase your Google search ranking, ROI, engagement, and brand awareness.
- Optimize your website’s format and content to become more mobile-friendly, boosting the impact of your SEO content. With SEO content marketing, your site will rank higher in search results when prospective clients use your keywords and phrases.
Read our Best Real Estate Lead Generation Websites to know how to make your website mobile-friendly, attract visitors, and provide enjoyable experiences.
Statistics on Conversion Rates
Online real estate leads take longer to convert than referrals and cold-calling leads, and often convert at a lower rate. According to NAR, the national average conversion rate for online real estate leads is 0.4% to 1.2%, and the average incubation rate for these leads is six to 24 months. Our conversion rate statistics show that organic searches and form submissions are popular and have the highest conversion rate among all marketing channels.
16. Organic search has the highest conversion rate at 3.2%
Among the marketing channels Ruler Analytics analyzed, including email, referrals, phone, and paid search traffic, it was determined that real estate organic search had the highest conversion rate of any marketing channel (3.2%). On the other hand, real estate paid search has an average conversion rate of 1.5%.
Key takeaways:
- Organic leads are highly qualified leads and are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. You can be confident that the leads you obtain from an organic search will result in higher lead generation rates. Additionally, organic leads can be a more affordable means to generate leads than paid advertising.
- It is vital for real estate professionals to utilize long-tail keywords, influencer marketing, and leverage on-page SEO to increase the organic search traffic on your website. Invest in local SEO software like BrightLocal to help boost your ranking and sales by assisting in auditing, measuring, and tracking rankings of your websites.
17. 84% of marketers use form submissions to capture leads
Form submissions were the most popular form of conversion at 84%, followed by phone calls at 50.3%, while live chat was used by around 33.2% of respondents. It is no surprise that form submission takes the top spot since it is a convenient way to track and convert website visitors into sales-ready leads.
Key takeaway:
- On real estate landing pages, a submission form is used to collect the contact information of active homebuyers and sellers. They accomplish this by providing free information or resources that persuade website users to provide you with their contact details and, in the end, employ your services to purchase or sell a home.
- Real estate professionals must create a straightforward and easy-to-complete form to track and convert website visitors faster. To monitor lead form conversion, consider using CRM software. For example, Bitrix24 uses data saved in its system to display each lead’s status to where they are in the company’s specially created funnel.
Bottom Line
Choose the best marketing approach for increased success and conversion rates by knowing the real estate marketing statistics in 2022. Real estate agent marketing requires knowledge of general marketing trends, marketing strategy types, conversion rate statistics, homeownership rules, and legal processes to generate leads and convert them into clients.
