Real estate advertising trends Q2 2023

Get the inside scoop on the latest real estate advertising trends! Our new report uncovers major shifts in Google, Facebook, and Instagram ads during Q2 2023. We break down these trends with data spanning from January 2021 to June 2023 to see how today’s shifting market is affecting digital advertising. 

Executive summary

The Q2 2023 national residential real estate landscape has been predominantly marked by a slight decline in home prices, instigated by a multitude of factors including rising mortgage rates, an inflationary macro-economic environment, and substantial economic uncertainty.

The US national median home price fell by 1.2% to $317,496, as home values fell in roughly 80% of the largest housing markets. This decline in prices has been propelled by a jump in the average 30-year fixed-mortgage rate from 3.85% in January 2022 to 6.85% in June 2023.

Although inflation rates have decreased to 5.7% in Q2, there remains a strain on household budgets due to inflation. This combined with economic uncertainty stemming from the international crises with the Ukraine war and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began to foster lingering financial caution, contributing to a declining Q2 in the residential home resale market.

Given this macroeconomic context on the US housing market, our objective with this report is to provide an analytical summary of recent Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) real estate advertising trends, leveraging a comprehensive dataset spanning from January 2021 to June 2023.

We’ve again combed through our proprietary data, one of the largest sets of paid marketing data in the US residential real estate industry, to glean aggregated and anonymized insights for you. We hope these insights help inform your strategic decision-making as you navigate a real estate market going through a period of significant uncertainty. You may spot some unexpected potential positive signs, as we did.

Shifting mortgage interest rates

Before diving into the data of real estate advertising trends on Google and Meta, below is a graph comparing 30-year mortgage interest rates in 2022 through Q2 of 2023. The rates experienced a steady increase throughout 2022, indicating a shift in the housing market. These changes not only impact buyers and sellers on the ground, but they also impact the preferences and actions of potential homebuyers online, prompting adjustments in digital advertising campaigns on Google and Meta platforms to effectively engage this evolving audience.

Recognizing the relationship between interest rates and digital advertising trends enables real estate professionals to adapt their strategies and optimize their marketing impact amidst a changing market landscape.

Facebook & Instagram

Annualized advertising trends

Analyzing the data spanning over two years, we see a vibrant and interconnected ecosystem of variables at play. Key metrics such as CPM (Cost of Media), CPC (Cost per Click), CTR (Click-Through Rate), CPL (Cost per Lead), and CVR (Click-to-Lead Conversion Rate) have all exhibited intriguing patterns.

KEY TAKEAWAY

The observation of a consistent decrease in CPC and CPL from mid-2022 onwards signals a more cost-efficient advertising landscape, with high buyer and seller interest.