Where are the hardest hit real estate markets you can think of? Las Vegas instantly pops into mind. Florida and California quickly follow and the reason is because these were some of the hottest real estate markets in the U.S. leading up to the crash. These have also lead to some of the worst hit areas as far as unemployment numbers go.
Google Trends allows another method to dig through the data and see underlying trends. What Google Trends allows us to do is search a topic based on keywords and see the location that has searched that term the most often. It’s a fun little tool but also useful. Here are some of the interesting statistics that I found:
Second mortgage was a popular search back in 2006 when home prices were at or near their peaks. Fast rising home prices meant you could take out a lot of the equity out of the house and use it to purchase other items. Markets with booming real estate developments meant you could take out high levels using this loan process.
Loan modifications are a much more recent topic which allow an interest rate reduction in existing loans. This is beneficial to people who have high payments and would otherwise not make them. This is a long term solution for people who have loans that are unlikely to be repaid in many cases.
Unemployment searches could have a very wide range of possibilities. Whether it is inquiring about unemployment benefits or numbers, it is a popular search in one of the most decimated areas, Las Vegas, and one of the areas that experienced a large amount of unemployment with the financial crisis, New York.
Bankruptcy is a popular search again because of the housing market collapse. Other hard hit areas beyond Vegas were searching for this trend including Cleveland and Phoenix.
Foreclosure is the mother of them all as far as search trends and reality go. Three of the hottest real estate markets in the U.S. were Vegas, Florida, and Arizona. These areas also experienced some of the deepest crashes. Foreclosures became big in this area as many homes could not even be sold and were defaulted on instead.
Notice any interesting parallels between those searches? Vegas is tops on all except one! That shows just how bad the situation is in Vegas. The citizens in Vegas are searching these topics because its more than just ‘what’s happening’ in the world. Instead its happening to them and they want to know what’s may or may not happen in the process. This is the power Google has to show us what’s happening and who its happening to.
