Today the National Association of REALTORS®, and Move, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE), the leader in online real estate and operator of Realtor.com, extended the lead of Realtor.com as the world’s largest online destination for real estate listings with the launch of the Realtor.com International web site.
Available at www.realtor.com/international, the new site delivers the millions of for-sale property listings displayed on Realtor.com to buyers across the globe, as well as residential properties fed to the site by foreign content providers. At launch, Realtor.com International will feature residential real estate listings from Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Spain. The Realtor.com International site can also be accessed from the homepage of Realtor.com.
In the past three months, nearly 2.6 million international visitors searched for U.S. real estate on Realtor.com. The top five countries where searches originated from are Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and India.
“Increasingly, more and more Realtors are working with international clients who want to buy property in the U.S. and the new Realtor.com International web site will not only allow Realtors to offer their expertise and knowledge to a broader audience, but will also bring buyers and sellers together across the globe,” said NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, Rhode Island. “Foreign buyers understand the value of owning a home in the U.S. and can rely on a Realtor because of their global perspective and understanding of different cultures and real estate practices. This collaboration with Move is just one of many ways Realtors can expand and grow their business globally.”
To help international and foreign-born buyers as they search for U.S. residential real estate, the new Realtor.com International search experience delivers enhanced translation options in 11 languages including Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The site also features easy-to-use currency and dimension converters available on all pages.
“The U.S. continues to be a top destination for international buyers from all over the world, and Realtor.com remains a natural choice for international buyers because we offer the largest, freshest and most accurate collection of property listings available online,” said Realtor.com President, Errol Samuelson. “In recent years, foreign buyers have increasingly become interested in owning real estate in the United States. Like millions of U.S. consumers, they trust the Realtor.com brand to help them connect with Realtors and find the property that’s right for their needs. Opening up the world of real estate on Realtor.com to include an international search experience is a natural evolution of our offerings at Move. We’re very excited to help hundreds of thousands of Realtors grow their businesses beyond U.S. borders as they connect with international buyers.”
NAR’s 2011 Profile of International Home Buying Activity reports the U.S. remains a top destination for foreign buyers with international purchases surging $16 billion in the last year. According to the survey, total residential international sales last year in the U.S. equaled $82 billion. Total international sales were split evenly between non-resident foreigners and recent immigrants.
International buyers of U.S. residential real estate came from 70 countries; the top five (Canada, Mexico, China, U.K., and India) accounted for 53 percent of all transactions from March 2010 to March 2011. Most states in the U.S. had at least one international transaction, while Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas—accounted for 58 percent of all U.S. residential transactions completed by international buyers. Proximity to the home country, the convenience of air transportation, and climate and location are the most important considerations to international buyers.
Presentations for international content providers interested in learning how to feed their listing to Realtor.com International will be held at the 2011 Realtors® Conference and Expo in Anaheim, California, November 11th through 14th.
Evangeline Alzona Yia Was recognized for breaking ground on the REALTOR.com International launch as an initial data content provider.
Read more: REALTOR.com Goes Global, Launches International Site | REALTOR.com® Blogs
View Photos Here
