Canadian internet searches for properties for rent searches (e.g. variations of ‘apartments for rent’, ‘houses for rent’, ‘maison a louer’) experienced a sharp increase over the past year, with a 158.2% increase in the first quarter of the year and 150.2% year over year (comparing Q1 2010 with Q4 2009 and Q1 2009). The increase in rental searches likely reflects uncertainty in the housing market and a tightening of the mortgage markets forcing house hunters to turn their attentions to rented accommodation.
Experian Hitwise recently published the Experian Insight Index for the US, identifying key internet search trends against today’s economic backdrop. We did similar analysis of the Canadian market and I will post the findings in a series of entries on this blog.
Similar to the US market, year over year rental housing searches saw the biggest increases in the Canadian market among all the indicators considered. Canadian internet searches relating to properties for sale (e.g ‘houses for sale’, ‘maison a vendre’, ‘mls listings’) increased by 48.8% in the first quarter of the year and 62.5% year over year
The share of Canadian internet searches relating to properties for sale was four times higher than those for properties for rent. The following chart illustrates the difference between the two portfolios of search terms as well as their respective increases.

Properties for rent searches tend to be dominated by generic search terms (non-branded) while properties for sale searches are dominated by branded terms, in particular those relating to MLS and the leading real estate brands (Remax, Century 21, Royal LePage, etc).
We plan to post a follow up blog entry with more insights from the analysis, in particular focusing on Canadian searches for mortgages and loans.