Found an interesting tool called Google Insights that gives a unique perspective on the real estate development industry. Google Insights graphs the searches in Google to see trends in people’s interests over time. It is a really neat tool for getting a feel of what is happening in the world.
I thought Insights might be able to tell me what kind of interest people have in land development right now and where the trend is headed. Below are screen shots for the terms, “Real Estate Development”, “Property Development”, and “Land Development”.
Insights for Real Estate Development
Insights for Property Development
Insights for Land Development
As you can see, all three charts show that interest in property development bottomed out at the end of last year and interest has bounced off those lows so far in 2009. Granted the bounce isn’t huge, but it is certainly a change in the trend.
Now, does this mean the recession is over for property developers?
Well, I wouldn’t go to Vegas based on Google Insights, but the charts do offer some good news amid a plethora of “sky is falling” headlines right now. We will have to follow the charts from Google Insights closely to see if the new trends continue. Likewise only time will tell if the increased activity I am seeing with real estate development in my office will continue. I will certainly let you know if it does.
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Wow, nice research, everything bottomed out in Dec/Jan but looks like it has been picking up slowly – in search volume anyway.