Online real estate ad spending to surpass newspapers by 2012

Real estate advertising – a key source of revenue for newspapers – is rapidly moving to the online environment, so much so that online real estate ads will command the bigger chunk of spending by 2012, according to a Borrell Associates report covered by ClickZ.

US newspapers will receive $US4.8 billion in real estate advertising revenue in 2007, while online advertising will receive $US2.6 billion. But by 2012, newspapers revenue will have fallen to $US3.3 billion, just behind compared to online advertising’s $US3.5 billion.

The report predicts real estate newspaper ad revenues will drop 6.8% this year and by the same rate in 2008, followed by a sharper 16% fall in 2009 and another 13% decline in 2010.

The real estate ad shift away from traditional media to online mirrors similar shifts in other advertiser verticals, according to Peter Conti, senior vice president of Borrell Associates. That transition was spurred by two years of depressed home sales have forced brokers to reassess their ad spending.

“Unlike recruitment verticals and the automotive vertical, where we’ve seen the dramatic shift to the internet over the years, the rising tide of home sales kept all sorts of advertising afloat,” Conti told ClickZ. “There are less homes being sold, but at the same time advertisers and real estate brokers are looking for the most effective use of their dollars. And everybody agrees that the most efficient means is online.”