A seismic shift has occurred in the way Kiwi buyers search for properties.

It bodes well for real estate websites, but is dire news for newspapers already feeling the pinch as punters desert them for the net. It's been no secret for several years now that ever-greater numbers of buyers make websites their first stop when seeking a property. But the latest New Zealand figures confirm the trend starkly.
Nielsen's annual online survey of 1200 people shows that for the fourth consecutive year, specialist real estate websites trump all other media. Seventy-eight per cent said they went to websites when seeking a property – up from 69 per cent last year. In August, 1,489,294 unique browsers visited at least one of the real estate websites tracked by Nielsen during that month.
Local newspapers, however, fell in favour from 49 per cent to 40 per cent among those surveyed. National newspapers fared even worse, dropping from 43 per cent to 31 per cent. Fewer than one in 10 of those surveyed described newspapers as 'very useful” in searching for properties. Of course, newspapers the world over are battling to hold readership in the face of the mass migration to the internet, so it's only logical that this would also impact on real estate advertising. But it's nevertheless interesting to see how strongly the real estate websites have grown in popularity.
Alistair Helm, the CEO of www.realestate.co.nz, said the survey also revealed what buyers expected of website ads.
'The public wants an extensive collection of large, high quality photos,” he says.
'They want the address of the property and they want an accurate price range. All of these items scored over 90 per cent by respondents.”
Another interesting finding; the proportion of Kiwis who said they'd definitely try to sell their home privately has fallen to just 13 per cent. Those who said they'd definitely use an agent has grown to 42 per cent – no doubt acknowledging that skill and experience count greatly in getting a property sold in these tougher market conditions.