{"id":2060,"date":"2020-09-14T15:52:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T22:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/blog\/september-update-covid-19s-impact-on-real-estate-advertising-on-facebook\/"},"modified":"2024-03-04T15:58:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T23:58:10","slug":"september-update-covid-19s-impact-on-real-estate-advertising-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/blog\/september-update-covid-19s-impact-on-real-estate-advertising-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"September Update: COVID-19’s impact on real estate advertising on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the sixth continuation of our COVID-19 impact report. In order to understand COVID-19\u2019s impact on Real Estate Advertising on Facebook, our team has analyzed over 480,000,000 ad impressions and behaviors that have generated over 280,000 leads. Looking ahead to next month\u2019s analysis, we will begin to transition this report to an ongoing look at Marketing and Advertising trends in Real Estate, rather than placing its emphasis on the impacts of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Now that the traditional summer buying season is winding down, this month we expanded our general analysis to include a \u201csummer-over-summer\u201d analysis that compares 2019 summer data (June, July, and August) to 2020 summer\u2019s data.<\/p>\n

General Analysis Results<\/h2>\n
\n
\"Table<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Our analysis recorded a 28% MoM increase in media cost (CPM) on Facebook. The line chart (below) shows that the media cost increased in August to levels slightly higher than those in early 2020, pre-COVID.This may be the effect of several factors, including COVID-impacted advertisers returning, advertisers from July\u2019s boycott<\/a> returning with increased budgets, and the start of presidential campaign advertising (Forbes reports $7 Billion will be spent on political advertising<\/a> this election season).<\/p>\n

However, buyer and seller intent is still strong, shown by a 15% increase in click-to-lead conversion rate (CVR) and a 6% increase in click through rate (CTR).<\/p>\n

Seasonality Comparison<\/h3>\n

The above chart shows COVID\u2019s impact on the normal real estate buying season. This is showcased in the differences in the CPM, CPC, CPL and CVR.<\/p>\n

The CPM changes showcase the month-over-month difference in the cost of media, they do not show an actual cost comparison. When comparing August CPM value in 2020 to that of 2019 (data point not shown in the above chart) we recorded 2020\u2019s media cost as 18% lower than 2019\u2019s. Evidence of less expensive media in 2020 is also shown in the below summer-over-summer comparison.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Table<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u200d<\/p>\n

Summer over Summer Comparison \u200d<\/h2>\n

Each data point shown above represents the difference between each metric\u2019s respective average for the summer months (June, July, August) in 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019. This shows a macro view of COVID\u2019s impact on the 2020 home buying season.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Table<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

We measured\u00a0 large deltas\u00a0 from year to year for every metric, with CVR showing an astonishing 129% increase in click to lead conversion from 2019 to 2020. This, coupled\u00a0 with a 41% decrease in YoY CPL, shows the high level of buyer intent present in the market in the unusual summer of 2020.<\/p>\n

Overall, media costs were 29% less expensive during the summer of 2020 then they were in 2019. The 48% decrease in CTR and the 35% increase in CPC did not have an impact on CPL due to the large CVR increase.<\/p>\n

Correlation Between Pending Home Sales And Lead Conversion Rates?<\/h2>\n

In May we started monitoring the National REALTOR Assocation\u2019s Pending Home Sales Index (PHS) to track a possible correlation between MoM changes in Facebook\u2019s lead conversion rate (CVR) and the following month\u2019s pending home sales. Our ultimate goal is to determine if there\u2019s a correlation between changes in CVR with downstream metrics like home sales, to identify if CVR can be used as an early signal of consumer demand in the Real Estate industry.\u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our first month of monitoring showcased just a 3% difference in each metric, hinting at a possible correlation. However, as shown in the below image, the following months had larger differences.<\/p>\n

\n
\"National<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

To better understand the effect of CVR on downstream industry metrics, like home sales, we made two changes to our methodology.<\/p>\n

First, we added NAR\u2019s Existing Home Sales<\/a> (EHS) measure to our monitoring. Second, we created a table that shows each of the data points (CVR, PHS, EHS) month-over-month change from the beginning of COVID19, to present day. You can find the results below.<\/p>\n

(Sources: NAR PHS<\/strong>, Feb\/Mar<\/a>, Mar\/Apr<\/a>. Apr\/May,<\/a> May\/June<\/a>, June\/July<\/a>. NAR EHS<\/strong>\u00a0 Feb\/Mar<\/a>, Mar\/Apr<\/a>, Apr\/May<\/a>, May\/June<\/a>, June\/July<\/a>. EV CVR<\/strong> Feb\/Mar<\/a>, Mar\/Apr<\/a>.Apr\/May<\/a>,\u00a0 May\/June<\/a>, June\/July<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The above chart shows the importance of understanding CVR\u2019s impact on the Real Estate industry. For the July-August Comparison, data is not yet available for NAR\u2019s PHS or EHS.<\/p>\n

One noteworthy call out on the above chart is the impact of February-March CVR decrease on the following months PHS and EHS decreases, all numbers showcased in red. This may indicate that one month\u2019s change in CVR has an effect on the following month, and may overflow into the second month’s PHS and EHS data.<\/p>\n

This is also showcased in the 47% increase in CVR that we recorded in March-April. You can see that the following month\u2019s PHS and EHS changes both show large gains.<\/p>\n

Our team will keep this chart updated as an effort to identify a correlation between CVR and PHS\/EHS.<\/p>\n

Lead Conversion Rate Trend Line Through COVID Crisis<\/h2>\n
\n
\"graph<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Lead conversion rate continues to become a primary focal point of our analysis. As shown in the above chart, CVR continues to rise month over month.<\/p>\n

Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM) Trend Line Through COVID Crisis<\/h2>\n
\n
\"graph<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The cost of media briefly exceeded pre-COVID levels. The above chart shows a slight peak in August’s media cost over February’s.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

In summary, the cost of media has risen to its pre-Covid levels, present in early 2020, however remain significantly lower than in the same period of 2019. Meanwhile, strong consumer intent continues, with click-to-lead conversion rates that continue to rise MoM in 2020, driving both CPL and CVR to significantly higher levels than we saw in the summer of 2019. Inventory might be at historic lows, but consumers are still in a serious mood to buy, and that doesn\u2019t appear to be falling off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the sixth continuation of our COVID-19 impact report. In order to understand COVID-19\u2019s impact on Real Estate Advertising on Facebook, our team has analyzed over 480,000,000 ad impressions and behaviors that have generated over 280,000 leads. Looking ahead to next month\u2019s analysis, we will begin to transition this report to an ongoing look…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1,"label":"Article"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/60636b9d9a0daf884a5098ba_COVID-19-media-analysis-2.jpg",1008,480,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Evocalize","author_link":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/author\/tyson-mickelsenevocalize-com\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1,"name":"Article","slug":"article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":115,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":115,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Article","category_nicename":"article","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9289,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions\/9289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evocalize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}