According to a tweet that was published this morning, the IDNX domain name price index is up a bit more than 25% over the past 12 months. Prices were up 4.7% in October and down .7% in November. You can visit the IDNX website to see the full chart and report.
Domain prices: Up up up (Oct: 4.7%) – and a little down again (Nov: -0.7%). #IDNX gained +25% in last 12 months.
— IDNX (@idnxcom) December 10, 2014
Despite the robust growth rate during the course of the last year, the IDNX domain index appears to be underperforming a bit when compared to the NASDAQ 100. According to the NASDAQ website, the NASDAQ 100 year to date growth is pegged at 36.92% as of today. This is a bit different than the 12 month look at the IDNX compared to the year to date performance of the NASDAQ 100.
Although the IDNX may be a good indicator of the domain market, there are a few important things to keep in mind. The IDNX is comprised of publicly reported sales data. I think most people in the domain space, especially domain brokers, would argue that many of the highest value domain name sales that push the needle are transacted in private.
From my personal perspective (bearing in mind that I own fewer than 500 domain names), I have seen an uptick in offers, but I am not receiving an uptick in the amount of money being offered for my domain names. My year has been decent, but it was not as good as 2013. Again, this is not statistically significant by any stretch, but it’s my own observation.
I certainly like seeing the price index trend, and it’s something I keep my eye on when an update is announced.
Yes I have noticed an uptick in sales offers and purchases at the asking price (less haggling) over the last few months. Again this could be just for my portfolio. But it seems that prices are moving in the right direction.