BIRDVIEW Technologies Sees Strong Online Home Buyer Activity
April 2, 2007 (Lombard, IL) - BIRDVIEW Technologies sees strong indications
of an upturn in the national housing market. BIRDVIEW's proprietary Real Estate
Activity (REA) Index, a measure of consumer activity gathered across their entire
client base of real estate brokerages and agents, is at the heart of the forecast.
Recent increases in pending home sales as well as unit sales, as reported by
the National Association of Realtors, further support BIRDVIEW's findings.
"We've developed our index over the past decade and have observed correlations
with actual transaction activity. While it's not a definitive leading indicator,
we're impressed by the index's past predicative qualities," said Bedros
Bedrosian, President and Cofounder of BIRDVIEW Technologies.
In late 2005, for instance, BIRDVIEW'S REA Index accurately forecast the market
downturn a quarter before the market peaked. The same indicators are now signaling
an increase in buyer activity that could translate into a leveling off or even
a greater pace of home sales throughout 2007.
For a decade, sellers have been raising their prices, triggered by the biggest
boom in real estate history. The market reached a peak in late 2005 as buyers
began holding back, which led to decreases in home sales and lower Internet
buyer activity in 2006.
However, after a year, sellers now appear to be accepting that the market can
no longer bear such high asking prices and are pricing their properties more
appropriately, in alignment with actual market conditions and as evidenced by
recent declines in national median home prices. This important change may be
the crux of the recent upturn in BIRDVIEW'S activity index.
With more then 80% of homebuyers now turning to the Internet, according to
the National Association of Realtors, the Internet has become an important predictor
of housing market conditions. Each month, BIRDVIEW measures online activity
representing some 2 million consumers across the country. BIRDVIEW subsequently
publishes a quarterly newsletter to report on this activity, which is customized
for each of its brokerage clients. The customized newsletter compares monthly
consumer activity for each client's web site to median activity throughout BIRDVIEW's
national client base.
BIRDVIEW Technologies, www.birdview.com,
combines a consultative approach with innovative technologies to help real estate
brokerages build a better online business. The Company's suite of web-based
solutions helps Brokers capture millions of home buyers as well as manage, cultivate
and distribute leads. Active in 31 states and over 160 local MLSes, BIRDVIEW
helps Brokers attract and retain top performing agents, resulting in a more
profitable business.
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