Welcome to my inaugural monthly post that goes “inside” the numbers of coldwellbanker.com to hopefully will shed some light on trends in the home buying process. To start things off, Weimen Dong, our amazing statistician, and I reviewed the list of properties which were most viewed on coldwellbanker.com for the month of May.   The list is absolutely fascinating because of its diversity of home styles and prices.

As you would expect, the list includes two of the most expensive properties in the nation (I left out one that just sold for $34.5 million).  But the most viewed property is actually less than $300,000.  Known in Palatka, FL as the “Azalea House,” it was recently featured in Country Living magazine.  Coldwell Banker Ben Bates agent Erin Fortner says the $275,000 listing with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms was once used as a bed and breakfast.

Take a look at the top 10 most viewed properties in May on coldwellbanker.com.  You’ll see an almost $65 million price range represented:

1. 220 Madison St, Palatka, FL  ($275,000)
2. 227 Oberlin, Center Township, PA ($134,900)
3. Beverly Hills, CA  ($63,000,000)
4. Los Angeles, CA  ($65,000,000)
5. 449 Old Cypress Drive, Winston-Salem, NC  ($174,900)
6. 320 N Montgomery, Gilmer, TX ($129,900)
7. N5723 Perch Lake Rd, Spooner, WI ($129,900)
8. 6931 Kingdon, Holt, MI ($89,000)
9. 7005 Horton Ave., Urbandale, IA ($150,000)
10. 120 Sharon Street, Harrisonburg, VA ($189,000)

We also wanted to explore what the thousands and thousands of visitors to coldwellbanker.com are searching for when they visit the website.  We looked at every home in the U.S. that was visited on coldwellbanker.com and found that the average home had increased, in terms of size, from February to May.  In May, the average home searched had 3.28 bedrooms (+1.2% from February) and 2.50 bathrooms (+24%).  The interest in luxurious bathrooms exists on Pinterest, too!

The next item we explored was where are visitors coming from and where are they looking.  Californians are viewing the most properties on coldwellbanker.com, but residents of the Pacific Northwest must be pretty satisfied with their lifestyle since none of those states made our Top 10 most active list:

1. California
2. Texas
3. New York
4. Pennsylvania
5. Illinois
6. Florida
7. Michigan
8. Wisconsin
9. Ohio
10. Georgia

I guess you could say my reaction was shock to see Wilkes Barre, PA on the site’s list of the most visited cities.  The 10^th largest city in Pennsylvania has more than 350 homes for sale on coldwellbanker.com.  Here are the other most visited cities:

1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Houston
4. Los Angeles
5. Dallas
6. San Francisco
7. Washington D.C.
8. Wilkes Barre, PA
9. San Antonio
10. Pittsburgh

I’m looking forward to continuing this monthly look behind the numbers.  Hopefully we will start to see some interesting trends develop over time.  Let me know what you think.