Dive Brief:
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Google has collected enough data about the activity of potential homebuyers through its $50 million real estate auction company that it can predict home sales quicker than the National Association of Realtors, the Internet giant claims.
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Google Capital, an equity fund backed by the search engine leader, created Auction.com last spring. Now, Auction.com is launching “Nowcast,” which the company says can use data from searches by home shoppers to “predict what is happening while it is happening,” Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Auction.com, told CNBC.
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Auction.com analysts are combining what they learn from the data with what they know about Internet searches to predict the coming month’s homebuying activity.
Dive Insight:
Auction.com’s first “Nowcast”: The volume of existing home sales in October won’t budge from September’s level.