US Home Sales Hit 28-Year Low Last Year
Eye-Catching Video ↑... Hundreds of Thousands of Views Per Video
"SNS, a Great Place to Connect First-Time Buyers"
American real estate agents have appeared on the social networking service (SNS) TikTok. As the volume of U.S. home sales hit its lowest point in over 30 years last year, agents are enthusiastically marketing by posting videos introducing homes on TikTok, which has a large user base. The key is to make what can be somewhat stiff real estate introductions interesting by adding pop music and jokes.
As of the 30th, there are about 5.3 million posts on TikTok tagged with the hashtag '#RealEstate'. From January to February this year, posts with this hashtag increased by 40% compared to the same period last year. According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in October last year, 15% of real estate agents reported using TikTok as a business tool, up from 5% in 2021.
U.S. media have focused on the phenomenon of TikTok videos, in which real estate agents tour and introduce various parts of homes on the market, rapidly increasing alongside real estate hashtags. Typically, home introduction videos feature calm classical music with explanations enriched by professional knowledge. However, recent popular home introduction videos on TikTok use pop music as background and include candid remarks like influencers, making them less boring.
Cesar Gutierrez, a real estate agent in Laredo, Texas, has attracted attention with videos that garner hundreds of thousands of views per post. Since last month, he has been introducing large homes while candidly expressing thoughts viewers might have, such as "If you buy this house, you won't have money left for furniture." In an interview with Bloomberg News, he said, "Instead of making viewers nervous by giving the impression of 'talking with a professional real estate agent,' I speak honestly as thoughts come to mind," adding that this approach helps viewers approach the issue of buying a home without tension.
Brad Scott, a real estate agent in San Antonio, has been posting home introduction videos on TikTok since January and has gained over 115,000 followers so far. Each video he posts receives tens of thousands of views. He said, "If I film and upload videos for three days before the weekend, I expect about 20 to 30 people to come see the house." Andy Clarick, a real estate agent in New York, produces 125 pieces of content per month with the help of his company's content production team, posting about a quarter of them on TikTok. Clarick has 237,000 TikTok followers.
The reason real estate agents are actively marketing using SNS like this is that the housing market has frozen solid. According to NAR, last year’s existing home sales totaled 4.09 million units, down 19% from the previous year. This was the lowest level in 28 years. Mortgage rates, which influence home purchases, surged to 7-8%, causing a significant drop in transactions.
Given this situation, a marketing boom using TikTok, a highly utilized SNS in the U.S., has emerged. According to the Pew Research Center, one in three American adults, especially more than six out of ten aged 18 to 29, use TikTok. Bloomberg explained, "Finding new homebuyers is important," adding that "(considering user characteristics) it is a good place to connect with people who are thinking about buying a home for the first time in their lives."
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