Top 10 Real Estate Websites by Traffic – 2021

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A top real estate agent will know the trends, which real estate websites have the most home buyers on them, and how to best promote their clients’ homes on those same sites so their homes get more attention, sell faster, and for more money. So every year I put out a report looking at the winners and loosers, which real estate websites are gaining in traffic and which are dropping. As a top 1% sellers agent in the United States, serving Oregon and Washington, I pay extra to the top sites on behalf of my clients so their homes sell faster and for more (I already said that, but honestly most don’t understand huge impact it has), and so, of course, I want to know if the money I’m spending on these sites is effective. Not all top real estate websites allow the agent to do anything extra to promote their clients’ homes on their platform (but most do!). I’ll start the 2021 real estate website traffic report next and then explain further after.

A real estate agent that idly waves their hand and says, “Your home will be listed on all the websites,” is a real estate agent you shouldn’t hire.

Top 5 Real Estate Websites in 2021

Data provided by SimilarWeb.

Real Estate Website Traffic Monthly Averages Nov. through Jan. 2021 – Top 5

Real Estate WebsitesMonthly VisitorsAverage Duration
1. Zillow.com264.5 Million6:44 minutes
2. Realtor.com139.8 Million6:11 minutes
3. Redfin.com74.5 Million5:09 minutes
4. Trulia.com55.9 Million4:59 minutes
5. Movoto.com19.26 Million4:05 minutes

Top 10 Real Estate Websites

Real Estate WebsitesMonthly VisitorsAverage Duration
6. Coldwellbanker9.52 Million2:38 minutes
7. Homes.com7.09 Million3:39 minutes
8. Remax.com5.41 Million2:50 minutes
9. Century21.com5.11 Million4:25 minutes
10. Compass.com4.32 Million4:07 minutes

Close to the top.

Real Estate WebsitesMonthly VisitorsAverage Duration
11. Homesnap.com4.22 Million3:01 minutes
12. Estatley.com3.96 Million1:52 minutes
13. KW.com3.29 Million9:46 minutes

Real Estate Website Selection Method

What’s not included? The above are the highest trafficked residential, homes for sale websites in the U.S. Those websites that are focused on apartment rentals would have their own separate list. So would websites that focus on commercial property, land property, or investment opportunities (like foreclosure sites).

Biggest Website Losers in 2021

KW.com, Keller Williams flagship site, keeps dropping. This is incredibly surprising since of all the national Realty companies they are spending the most on technology (far as we know). They are also much larger than all of the other Realty companies on the list. In 2018 KW.com was ranked 9th, 2019 they were ranked 8th, then in 2020 fell to 10th, now they have dropped out of the top 10 altogether. Their high time on site also likely has to do more with recording agents spending time in the KW.com backend then it does home buyers searching on their front-facing site – which simply isn’t that good.

Estately and Trulia also dropped rank this year, Trulia dropping from a prestigious 3rd rank to 4th and Estately dropping out of the top ten and dropping hard on average time on site.

Biggest Website Winners in 2021

I’m happy to report that two of our “websites to watch list in 2020” made huge gains in 2021 as we predicted. One broke the top 10 for the first time – Compass.com by more than tripling its traffic. The other, Homesnap.com, shot up to number 11 after also tripling its traffic. Our final website to watch in 2020, ExpRealty.com did manage to double its traffic. Homes.com also bounced back after a terrible 2020 year where they dropped from #5 to #8, in the 2021 report they have climbed back up to #7.

Real Estate Websites to Watch in 2021

Houses.com. This website is not yet operational but was recently purchased by the number one (near monopoly) commercial and land real estate website provider, Costar and affiliates. Houses.com represents their attempt to enter into the residential homes for sale space and compete there on a national scale. This same commercial and land real estate website company purchased Homesnap.com, which is our second website to watch in 2021. Homesnap.com nearly tripled its traffic last year by taking over local MLS searches (being the front public-facing search portals for MLS systems without one) and now will have heavyweight money behind the website to increase its market share. Compass.com is one of the faster-growing Realty companies in the U.S. and undoubtedly will continue to rise after finally entering the top 10 in 2021. ExpRealty.com which doubled its traffic in 2020 but failed to make our top list, will undoubtedly continue to rise in traffic in 2021, as EXP Realty is the fastest growing Realty company in the world.

Finally, VestorFilter.com is another home search platform to watch in 2021 as they launch nationally. They have created new home search technology and made it available for local agents and Realty companies to brand for themselves. Vestor Filters™ are smart search overlays on top of common search criteria, done in a customer friendly interface helping home buyers easily find deals and unique property types. It also allows the user to type in any word, like a Google-search, and then the platform will match homes to that word.

We (really do) Pay Extra on the Top Real Estate Websites so our Clients’ Homes Sell Faster and For More.

If your in Oregon or Washington, check out our top-ranked home selling program, where we charge a max. of 4.5% commission to sell but pay more to help our homes sell faster. What we do to give our homes a boost on the top sites is constantly changing as the top sites never stop changing. But for the sake of example, right now we pay for Zillow 3D software for every home we sell which gives more exposure on Zillow.com map search for our client’s homes. We pay extra to Realtor.com to place our clients’ homes at the top of search pages in multiple zip codes. If a home stays active for more than a few days we have a secret tweak in place that increases that home’s rank on Trulia.com and other sites. We pay extra to Homes.com to tweak their search results so our clients’ homes are seen more often. We ensure our homes have professional photography (a certain number of shots will help the home rank on various sites), professional 3D modeling (gives more screen space on many sites, highlights in many search results) a long enough description (affects rankings on some sites), and more. If a client has a commercial, multi-family, or land for sale property, we have other promotions on the sites that matter in those categories. If we have a luxury home for sale that might have an international audience, we have ways of promoting that home internationally as well. Basically, if there is a way to increase a home’s online exposure so we can sell it better and faster for our clients, we’re on top of it. Give our main line a call today, 503-714-1111, and ask how we can best sell your Oregon or Washington property.

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Stephen uses his broad knowledge of the market and his well-polished marketing skills to list houses at the maximum they can and will sell for. He is extremely adept at orchestrating all of the selling details and I look forward to doing business with him again.

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