Could IDNX Indicate Financial Crisis Is Over?

For many people throughout the world, the past few years have caused quite a bit of economic hardship. In concert with the world economy, the domain market took a tumble towards the middle or end of 2008, and it hasn’t yet fully recovered. Domain names have been selling, but the prices haven’t been nearly as heddy as 2006-07.

That said, the financial crisis that has impacted billions of people may be over… at least according to a press release distributed by Sedo  this afternoon, and posted below.

I think the signs of an improving domain market are great news for domain investors, and I agree that the market has certainly rebounded significantly since the end of 2009. I wouldn’t declare the end of the financial crisis with so much uncertainty in world affairs, but it’s nice to see the domain aftermarket is rebounding.

Here’s the press release:

Today, Sedo, the leading online domain marketplace and monetization provider, announced huge growth in the domain market, based on February 2012 figures for IDNX — the domain name price index.

Growth in February was at a high, reaching +4.8%. This change brings the current domain market prices close to their all-time high of summer 2011, and indicates a revitalized domain market, with the potential for higher figures as we move further into the year. This parallels the economy at large: in the US alone, 227,000 jobs were added in February 2012, and both stock market and advertising revenues reached new highs during the same time.

February was also the fourth month of consecutive growth (January saw an increase of +3.2%), and each month has seen a comparable growth to other stock indices such as the NASDAQ 100. These figures indicate that the recent increases in domain trading are not independent of the economy. This is reassuring, suggesting that these strong price increases are not solely the vanguard of a domain price bubble. Advertising revenues grew slightly more than the domain market itself, which is a positive sign that points toward the likelihood of new record highs later in 2012.

About IDNX
Developed in partnership with entrepreneur and researcher Thies Lindenthal, IDNX is the first standardized index providing a quantitative analysis of the domain market, and is based on over 6 years of Sedo transaction data. IDNX takes into account the inherent quality of domains, and compares the trends in transacted domains to those of other economic indices such as the NASDAQ, bringing more transparency to domain markets, and providing a reliable benchmark for domain name investors and novices alike to determine price trends, investment opportunities, and the value of domains as an economic asset.

About Sedo
Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading domain marketplace and monetization provider. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany and with offices in London, England and Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 15 million listings. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global membership base of more than 1 million domain professionals.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

7 COMMENTS

  1. I feel sorry for those who sold all their stocks when the DJ was 6700 .

    I sold mine when DJ was 14500, took a month vacation and put back in late 2010.

  2. Amazing how people love to claim that they took out all their money from the market at the very top of the market. Congrats for taking out all your money when the DJ was at 14500. Only problem is the DJ has never ever been as high as 14500. I smell BullS. I don’t mean to start a fight over it. It’s just annoying and frustrating when people claim that they maneuvered in and out of the market perfectly. It’s something nobody is able to do.

  3. The reseller aftermarket still hasn’t recovered completely. One look at sales threads sans bids in the aftermarket forums is a good enough indication of the state of the aftermarket.

    That said, I’ve seen a surprisingly strong demand for strong brandables. Even Sedo’s weekly sales reports reflect this trend. There is a move away from mere keyword domains to domains that can convey a brand’s authority.

    Keep in mind that despite the recession, it has never been easier to start an internet startup than today. Costs are at an all time low, investors abound, and user appetites are still strong. These internet startups are one of the biggest, largely untapped markets for domainers.

    I don’t think we’ll climb back to those heights of 2008 when a LLL.com could command $10k in the forums regardless of quality. But if you have a strong, generic, brandable dot com, you will do more than good.

    • @ Puranjay

      I haven’t seen (m)any good names at fair prices listed on a forum in a while. Please show me where fairly priced, good domain names aren’t selling.

      Personally, I don’t buy brandable domain names. They are more difficult to actively sell and the miss rate is far higher than the hit rate.

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