Real Estate Apps See a Slow-Moving Market

Key Takeaways:

• US ad spend across the real estate app cohort is down -13% YoY in 1H24 (ex-Homes.com) largely driven by decreases in spend for Realtor.com (-56% YoY) and Redfin (-23% YoY), while Homes.com increased spend by a whopping 40x in the same time period

• Real estate apps differ in their advertising strategies, with the two largest advertisers, Homes.com and Zillow, allocating their budgets onto different sites. Homes.com appears to be focused on reaching a broader audience, with nearly 50% of its US ad spend in 1H24 attributed to OTT and mobile/desktop display advertising, while Zillow targeted potential customers through social media sites such as Facebook (32%), YouTube (28%), and Instagram (15%)

• Homes.com is experiencing a surge in new users, as MAUs and downloads increased 140% and 160% YoY, respectively, over the past four quarters

  • Before Homes.com began its ambitious paid efforts, the app averaged 9% of downloads from paid sources in 2021, only 3 ppts higher than the rest of the cohort. The number has unsurprisingly grown this past year, potentially indicating the success of Homes.com’s campaign, as 15% of downloads have come from paid sources

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