Escrow.com report: domain sales rise while developed websites hit an all-time high

Escrow.com released its Domain Investment Index for Q1 2019 that provides insight into the domain name market for the quarter as compared to previous quarters.
The latest data from Escrow.com reveals a variety of factors influence the value of domain names. In particular, the value of domain names with existing content has hit an all-time high over the quarter.
A desirable address continues to influence the price for domains, showing parallels between this virtual real estate and physical real estate markets. Domain names with two and three characters remain more valuable than their longer counterparts.
Meanwhile, global demand for domain names has seen shifts. While the United States still leads the way in total transaction value, Canada and Hong Kong have seen strong increases.
 

Some of the highlighted points from the report:

  • Domain name transaction value rises surges after dip
  • US leads the pack
  • Value of content hits new high
  • Number of characters, a major differentiator
  • Fewer letters see greater value
  • Four-number domains fluctuate

Domain name transaction value rises surges after dip

In the three months ending March 2019, the total value of domain name transactions facilitated by Escrow.com saw an uplift from the fourth quarter. Total transaction value also had a strong increase compared to the corresponding quarter in 2017. As exhibited in Figure 3.0 , the total value of domain names transacted on Escrow.com in the first quarter of 2019 exceeded US$85 million.

Value of content hits new high

The median price of domains with content continued to outstrip that of those without content, and skyrocketed in Q1 2019 to a historical high of US$9,800 compared to US$4,800 the previous quarter. Domain names without content, meanwhile, remained flat with a median price of US$2,500. This median price has now remained unchanged for six consecutive quarters.

The sum total value of domains without content continues to far surpass those with content, suggesting a much higher overall volume. As illustrated below , the total value of domain names without content in Q1 2019 rose to US$54.8 million, up from US$45 million in Q4 2018. However, the sum total value of domains with content followed the trend of median prices for those domains, more than doubling from US$7.1 million in Q4 2018 to US$15.2 million in Q1 2019.

Fewer letters see greater value

Two- and three-letter domain names maintained a higher median price than domains with four or five letters, but dropped sharply from Q4 2018. The median price for domain names with two and three letters fell from US$365,000 in Q4 2018 to US$212,000 in Q1 2019.

There was a drop-off in median price for two- and three-letter domain names.

The four-letter domain name category, however, continued its growth following a steady downward trend between 2014 and 2016, as is demonstrated below. Over the same period, the Figure below reveals that five-letter domain names dropped off slightly after strong growth over the past three quarters, and steady, if moderate, growth over the past several years following a fall in early 2016.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

One comment

  1. Hello, Konstantinos:
    This Escrow.com report is usually for every domainer that must have a panoramic view of this business. It is a must. I consider the report an excellent contribution to the domainers.
    Thanks so much,

    Antonio

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