"For the first time since AI search tracking began in 2024, Zillow's share of agent-discovery traffic declined year over year from 41.2% to 33.8%, marking a 17.5% relative decline in just twelve months."
"67% of homebuyers now use an AI tool as their primary research method before contacting an agent, a significant increase from 17% just 18 months ago."
"The average buyer asks 8.7 questions before identifying a two-to-three agent shortlist, with 71% of those queries being hyper-local, indicating a shift in how buyers seek information."
"Real estate has four characteristics that make it almost perfectly suited to AI-mediated discovery and poorly suited to the portal model, explaining the traffic loss experienced by traditional platforms."
A benchmark study reveals a significant shift in real estate buyer behavior, with 67% now using AI tools for research before contacting agents. Zillow's agent-discovery traffic dropped from 41.2% to 33.8%, marking a 17.5% decline. The traffic loss is attributed to buyers preferring AI conversations over traditional portal searches. The average buyer now asks 8.7 questions in a single chat, focusing on hyper-local queries, contrasting with the fragmented search methods of the past. Real estate's characteristics favor AI-mediated discovery, leading to the decline of traditional portals.
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