Judging the Economy via Search Volumes

Published by Robert Brown on July 30, 2008 under Mortgages

Could be a way to predict , enough so that it could point to investments?

Its an interesting idea, introduced by Hitwise when they ask if the housing market has hit rock bottom - pointing to a levelling off of the decline in searches for “Houses For Sale”

Certainly looking at searches for for “houses for sale” in doesn’t share the level off, with a decline still shown, almost 50% down on the same time last year due to a shortage of mortgages

Also look at spending power - “DIY” is down about 30% from last year, but is experiencing an upswing in the last month.

Are people finding they do have more disposable income, or are they trying to tart up their houses as much as possible to make them easier to sell in this tough market?

But is everyone feeling the blues and booking themselves on holiday? Looks like search for “holiday” are on their way up.

Could you maybe let search volume govern investment choices? Indeed, could you not build a search engine that looked for company names in the vicinity of certain “buzz” works such as Buy, Sell, Good, Bad, and make a call on possible share options? I’ll tell you if it works after I make my first million :)

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