Realtors Are Moving Away from Newspapers

Real estate advertisers are expected to cut their spending in newspapers, according to a new report from Classified Intelligence.

The study found that 51% of real estate agents surveyed said they were advertising on free classified sites and that many plan to trim newspaper advertising because it’s “no longer necessary.”

“The trend is clear: Real estate advertisers are looking to reduce their spending in print, and move to other media, including online and direct marketing techniques,” Peter Zollman, founding principal of Classified Intelligence, said in a statement. “While this has been a banner year for real estate advertising in U.S. newspapers, there’s a cliff ahead -- and newspapers are already beginning to see a significant fall-off in real estate revenue.”

The 74-page report also finds that while realtors are spending more advertising money in 2006, no one category is reaping the bulk of their budget. And 36% of those surveyed said they spent 10% or less on newspaper print ads.

Still, 2006 so far has been a good year for newspaper real estate advertising. The Newspaper Association of America reported that classified real estate revenue was up 26.3% in Q1. The study points out that agents advertise in papers because their customer expects it.

“When we asked realtors to speak their minds away from the survey’s formal rankings, there was close to unanimity that online advertising was where their future dollars would be going,” the study found