REALTOR.ca Visits Rebound, Reach All-Time High in June
Ottawa, ON, August 10 2020 With most of Canada locked down mid-March, the future looked bleak for REALTORS® as they wondered how public health guidelines would affect their businesses and the ability for Canadians to buy and sell homes.
As the country enters a new phase of the pandemic, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently discovered REALTOR.ca visits are at an all-time high.
With COVID-19 delaying the start of the traditional spring market, traffic to REALTOR.ca has peaked in the summer months and has had its strongest year-to-date growth in June, recording an increase of 42% in unique visitors.
“Some of this surge in unique visitors can be credited to Canadians simply having delayed their home buying journey while continuing their search,” said Patrick Pichette, CREA’s Vice-President of REALTOR.ca. “A lot of it also has to do with how quickly CREA adapted to promoting a virtual, contactless transaction process and gave REALTORS® the tools to continue serving buyers and sellers,” he continued.
Within weeks of the global shutdown, CREA introduced a highly visible section on REALTOR.ca listing descriptions promoting an agent’s upcoming virtual open houses and or live stream walkthroughs.
Since the launch of that feature, over 2,500 REALTORS® have conducted more than 18,000 live stream open houses. REALTORS® are adding more video, 3D virtual tours and floor plans, allowing consumers access to homes, when business-as-usual is not possible.
For the foreseeable future, this virtual-first way of thinking is only going to grow as Canadians adapt to this new normal. REALTOR.ca remains the No. 1 real estate platform in Canada* and continues to separate itself from competitor sites. REALTOR.ca has increased its online market share from 30.64% in January to 41.32% in June.
*-Comscore, 2020
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The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is one of Canada’s largest single-industry associations, representing more than 130,000 REALTORS® working through 90 real estate boards and associations.
For more information, please contact:
Pierre Leduc, Media Relations
The Canadian Real Estate Association
Tel: 613-237-7111 or 613-884-1460
E-mail: pleduc@crea.ca