Internet marketing and the realty sector: some cross-national insights from Canada and the UK

Based on a sample of 135 recent Canadian and British property buyers, this paper explores the effects of increasing integration of Internet-related technologies on buying behaviour within the largely neglected, but important, realty sector. Its key findings include the increasing (but non-dominant) use of the medium in searching for realty-related information (in Canada to a greater extent); the continued relevance of gender and educational levels in predicting realty-related Internet usage; the importance of online service provision in lowering 'offline' expectations; and the positive association between online realty experience and property buyer-realtor relationships. The implications of these findings for managers of realty businesses in Canada, the UK and beyond are discussed.