Top 10 Visited Real Estate Websites, 2023 Report
In the modern world, home sales are an online affair. Nearly every home in the country is sold as a result of online home search traffic, either by a home buyer on a public website like Zillow, or by a real estate agent searching their local online MLS system. I’ve been tracking these trends year by year (licensed since 2003). In our local area is has become important to list in multiple MLS systems with every home we sell, to reach the broadest number of connected agents. We also pay extra to feature our client’s homes on the top websites so they get more views, more tours, and then finally more and better offers.
It is very important for me to know which websites are gaining market share, and which are loosing. I need to know which websites have the greatest impact in a client’s home sale, and which aren’t likely to move the needle. Thankfully, our local MLS systems broadcast out where we need to be, which is a good start, but it doesn’t tell me which sites are worth paying special attention to, and potentially spending more money with, in order to boost our clients’ homes presence online, to help them sell faster and for more.
Top 5 Real Estate Websites in 2023
| Monthly Visitors | Average Visit Duration | Change in visitor count from 2022 Report | |
| 1. Zillow.com | 300.5 Million | 6:27 Minutes | + 45 Million |
| 2. Realtor.com | 124.2 Million | 5:48 | – 12 Million |
| 3. Redfin.com | 100.8 Million | 4:37 | + 21 Million |
| 4. Trulia.com | 48.87 Million | 4:48 | + 0 |
| 5. Movoto.com | 23.02 Million | 3:55 | – 1 Million |
The top 5 list has stayed the same since 2020 when Homes.com dropped out (I believe mostly to coding issues) and Movoto.com moved into its place. Redfin.com has been slowly crawling up the top 5 list and is now encroaching on Realtor.com’s number two spot. Despite Redfin’s growth and Realtor.com’s significant user base, Zillow still outranks their combined traffic, and the combined traffic of the rest of the top four put together. (Zillow also owns Trulia.com and since purchasing the website has stopped its growth.)
Top 10 List of Real Estate Websites (cont.)
| Monthly Visitors | Average Visit Duration | Change in visitor count from 2022 Report | |
| 6. Homes.com | 22.12 Million | 4:52 Minutes | + 12 Million (rose 1 spot) |
| 7. Remax.com | 9.7 Million | 3:28 | + 3 Million (rose 1 spot) |
| 8. ColdwellBankerHomes.com | 8.4 Million | 2:13 | – 1 Million (fell 2 spots) |
| 9. Compass.com | 8.3 Million | 3:31 | + 3 Million |
| 10. Propertyshark.com | 4.7 Million | 3:18 | + 1 Million (rose 2 spots) |
From the 2022 real estate website traffic report, the biggest loser is ColdwellBankerHomes.com, falling from its number six spot. Homes.com is the biggest gainer by far, nearly doubling its traffic from last year’s report. This is because Homes.com was purchased by CoStar.com (a near monopoly owner on all commercial real estate websites). The Homes.com purchase represents CoStar’s attempt to enter the residential market. So far, the acquisition is working. I expect by 2024 Homes.com will return to its previous spot in the top 5 real estate websites, and who knows how far up CoStar can take the website from there. Homes.com is one to watch.
Beyond the Top 10 Real Estate Websites
| Monthly Visitors | Average Visit Duration | Change in visitor count from 2022 Report | |
| 11. Homesnap.com | 3.9 Million | 3:21 Minutes | |
| 12. Sothebysrealty.com | 2.9 | 4:56 | (rose 4 spots) |
| 13. Kw.com | 2.6 | 6:30 | (rose 2 spots) |
| 14. Century21.com | 2.3 | 3:51 | (fell 4 spots) |
| 15. Exprealty.com | 1.9 | 4:39 | (rose 2 spots) |
| 16. Estately.com | 1.7 | 1:28 | (fell 3 spots) |
| 17. Rockethomes.com | 1.4 | 2:26 | (fell 3 spots) |
| 18. ForSaleByOwner.com | .70 | 1:56 |
Biggest Real Estate Websites Winners and Losers
The Keller Williams search site, KW.com fell from top rankings in 2019. In 2018 KW.com was a top ten visited real estate website. Despite Keller Williams supposed commitment to technology, their primary home search portal has dismal traffic, especially considering the size and wealth of the company behind it. Century21.com also used to be a top ten real estate website and has similarly fallen over the last five years or so. Estately.com used to be a significant public home search portal and has lost perhaps 80% of its traffic since 2018. Homesnap.com was one of the fastest rising websites in the last few years, but recently has plateaued and isn’t showing any recent growth. The website gained most of its traffic by partnering with local MLS systems, some of which have since stopped using its services. It is hard to say where Homesnap.com will go from here.
Real Estate Websites to Watch in 2023
We previously had listed Houses.com as one to watch as it had been purchased by Costar (the domain) for a huge fee. But then it appears CoStar changed its mind and picked up Homes.com instead (now houses.com just redirects to Homes.com). Instead of building a new site from scratch, CoStar decided to fix Homes.com (probably a good decision). As mentioned above, it will be interest to see if Realtor.com continues to lose traffic overtime and if Redfin is able to overtake their platform and claim the number two spot. It also appears, at least at the moment, that no one is going to dethrone Zillow.com, not anytime soon, perhaps never.
Recommended Real Estate Websites for Oregon and Washington
Most real estate agents do not recommend their clients use Zillow or the other major platforms, and they don’t recommend them for a long list of reasons. First, the national websites are not as accurate as local sites, because the local sites have direct MLS feeds (closer to the source or original data). Real estate agents by in large, upload new homes for sale direct into a local MLS system. Then all of these MLS systems (there are over 300 in the U.S.) feed into the national portals. But in order to make a complicated system like that work, often the data is dumbed down from local sources or mistakes are made in translation. So often using a local site direct connected to a local MLS provides the most accurate and detailed information on homes for sale. Here are the sites we recommend if you live in Oregon or Washington:
PortlandHomesForSale.com
SalemHomeForSale.com
BendHomeForSale.com
VancouverWashingtonHouseForSale.com
Our Top Team is Standing By
Our top 1% buyers agents and top 1% sellers agents in Oregon and Washington would love to connect with you today. We have access to coming soon homes not available on any public website (not Zillow, etc.) that can only be found by MLS members. We can help your home search in ways no one else can.
