How Big Data is disrupting the Commercial Real-Estate Market: Turning 200 Million Clicks into One House

Hemnet is Sweden’s most popular property portal. Each week, over 2 million people, equal to 20% of Sweden’s population, visit Hemnet to buy, sell or dream about a new home. However, market leadership only is no longer a safe place. Increased pressure from existing competitors and new disruptive players force Hemnet to continuously strengthen its leading position. By introducing The House of Clicks, Hemnet offered an inspiring solution: taking creative effectiveness and big data to incite business.

Creative Effectiveness as Business Accelerator

Hemnet is a virtual institution in Swedish society. When looking for a new home, most Swedes turn to Hemnet first. However, size may be Hemnet’s greatest competitive advantage, but what unique opportunities derive from being the largest player on the market? What is the real value of being the country’s most visited real estate portal? Our answer: big data. As a unique asset to Hemnet, huge amounts of data allow it to truly know what people dream of in a home.

Making data the creative brief, we realized that it could innovate the business – the way society and the industry approach property development, and make Hemnet a spokesperson for the industry’s future.

Introducing the House of Clicks, Sweden’s most sought-after home

Within three months, a team of data-scientists analyzed over 200 million clicks by 2 million visitors across 86000 advertised properties to determine what Swedes dream of in a future home. Two of Sweden’s foremost architects then filtered the insights through the lens of Swedish architectural history to create The House of Clicks – a commercially viable 1.5-storey home, co-created with over 2 million Swedes turning ones and zeros into bricks and mortar.

Triggering Market Response

The market reaction was instant, generating commercial opportunities for both The House of Clicks and Hemnet’s unique data collection. Within weeks, 648 people from around the world registered their interest to buy the House of Clicks when it hits the market – and Hemnet is currently in the planning stages of building the first eight Houses of Clicks.

On a PR level, the campaign brought more than 460000 unique website visitors from 187 different countries, over 10000 social media mentions, 207 articles in traditional media with a total reach of 218 million and a PR value of 2.2 MEUR, sparking a debate on the future of Scandinavian architecture and a global discussion on data’s role in property development, with Hemnet placed at its center.

The House of Clicks: A Creatively Effective Solution

Overall, the House of Clicks embodies an inspiring solution for category leaders to use big data to fuel business, add value for society and harness communication – turning Hemnet from property portal to an innovative property developer.