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Google's new data play: Predicting home sales
October 30. 2014Google's new data play: Predicting home sales
Diana Olick
When Google Capital, an equity fund backed by the Internet search behemoth, announced last spring that it would sink $50 million into Auction.com, housing watchers were left scratching their heads. What would Google want with an online real estate auction company? The answer is now clear: Data. And it goes both ways.
Auction.com is launching a new monthly report, the 'Nowcast,' that it claims can predict home sales up to a month faster than the National Association of Realtors. Realtors help sell the vast majority of the nation's homes, while Auction.com does just a small fraction.
"This is as close to real-time data as you can get. We're looking at search traffic that is taking place that month—and really right up to the day of the 'Nowcast'—to interpret what's going on in the market," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Auction.com.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102136210