Below is a comparison of how the Google Search Index varies when the housing bubble burst in Dubai in 2009. From the charts you may notice that a peak in the search of 'Home Financing' category happened few quarters before the bubble burst in UAE. This is very interesting and probably tells a lot about the fact that sentiment plays a very important role in the market movements. Surprisingly, the search for housing information drops before the bubble bursts and stays lower while the prices are wiped off and most of the people lose their homes.
However, at a macro level the trends match and show that online sentiments do determine the demand and supply of a commodity.
There is a surge in the search for property on Google in 2010, which matches with the house price index trend.
Image take from - http://www.globalpropertyguide.com
Interesting..nice to see things from a different angle.
ReplyDeleteRichard.
To me - this confirms that sentiments do matter..finally some one seriously looking at online sentiments in Middle East.
ReplyDeleteAhmed Abu
Thank you Richard and Ahmed
ReplyDelete