Noteworthy statistics:

1/3 of the world’s wealth is invested in real estate

With the U.S. dollar feeling pressure, more foreign investors are buying real estate in the United States

Online ad spend doubles in five years: According to the Yankee Group, the U.S. online ad market will hit $50.3 billion in revenue by 2011 - more than double 2007’s revenue. The underlying reasons for this rosy picture rests on the disparity between current media usage and spending by marketers. The web claims roughly 20% of overall media consumption in the U.S. right now - but advertisers currently invest only 7.5% of their budget online. The gap will start to be bridged by 2011, when Yankee predicts that online will comprise nearly 25% of all media consumption and 15% of the ad spend.        Opportunity for online in the housing crisis: Jupiter (Research) even finds a possible silver lining for internet real estate classifieds. If the housing slump deepens, it could lead sellers and agents to rely on local web advertising, because of the lower cost and wider range of services…         Ref: David Kaplan 01.18.08, 5:02 PM ET  FORBES

More and more brokers and MLSs are syndicating their data to listing sites like MyREALTY.com, Zillow.com, and Google Base

About 23.5 percent of the anticipated $12.3 billion real estate ad spend in 2008 will be spent online, compared to 48.9 percent of recruitment ad spending and 9.4 percent of automotive ad spending.         Ref: Inman News (Borrell Associates)  Dec 7, 2007.

Global R/E Industry:

Among the 40 countries monitored by the Global Property Guide, European countries are at the forefront of the global house price boom (Figure 1). House prices in Estonia rose by 300% from 1996 to 2006, in real terms, Ireland by 180% and UK by 167%. Other countries that experienced doubling of prices include Spain, Sweden, Norway and France. Outside Europe, countries participating in the boom include Australia, New Zealand, the US, and South Africa. Property prices in the Philippines dropped by 53% in real terms from 1996 to 2006. Residential real estate prices in East Asian countries peaked in early to mid-1990s at the onset of the Asian crisis.

Foreign direct investment in U.S. real estate has increased sharply from $38 billion in 1997 to more than $50 billion in 2002 according to Census data.

Commercial real estate’s $14.5 trillion invest-able universe is heavily concentrated in the mature economies.

Global Real Estate investments (commercial/investment) were $290B for the 1^st half of 2006 – that’s nearly $600B/year.

2006:  Global direct real estate investment of US$290 billion in the first half of 2006, up 30% on the same period in 2005. The Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific have all seen unprecedented levels of transactions.

Americas—Direct commercial real estate investment in the Americas was US$129 billion in the first half of 2006, up 27% on first half of 2005.

US and Canadian real estate ownership is becoming increasingly global, with cross-border investment totaling US$35 billion in the first half of 2006.

Europe—Direct commercial real estate investment in Europe was US$117 billion in the first half of 2006, up 30% on the same period in 2005.