Real Estate Information Portal HOME4U^® Goes Nationwide

NTT DATA Corporation (Head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Toru Yamashita) in February completed the expansion of its real estate information portal HOME4U^® to all 47 Japanese prefectures, after offering the services mainly in the greater Tokyo area up to now. The company will seek revenue growth outside the Tokyo area in fiscal 2009 by boosting marketing efforts in regional and suburban areas throughout Japan, concentrating on signing up leading local real estate firms and forming tie-ups with major portal sites and real estate broker sites serving each area. HOME4U continues to pursue its aim of being a comprehensive real estate information portal on which users can rely, and where they can conduct transactions with assurance.

Overview of HOME4U Services

HOME4U started out in 2001 as a real estate information portal divided into separate sites for sellers (HOME4U for Sellers) and prospective buyers (HOME4U for Buyers). Since then new services have been added for a variety of specific needs, with the appearance of HOME4U sites for newly built condominiums (New Condominium HOME4U), detached houses (Detached House HOME4U), and existing condominiums (HOME4U Stock Mansion Catalog), as well as a site for owners of rental properties (HOME4U Rental Management). In these ways, new real estate-related services and new functions are continually being added. In spring of 2009, a site for prospective renters is due to be launched, further raising the status of HOME4U as a portal site providing comprehensive information in the real estate area.

New Marketing Strategies

With the aim of quickly establishing HOME4U as a comprehensive real estate information portal site, marketing strategies have so far been focused on lining up participating companies in the greater Tokyo area. The issue of forming tie-ups with leading companies in the rest of Japan was left for later. NTT DATA began this effort in fiscal 2008, dubbing it a year of new beginnings as a real estate portal, and is working to make each site more powerful as a medium. Besides starting up the HOME4U Rental Management site and other new sites, the company began to expand the service coverage nationwide, beginning with the HOME4U for Sellers site in September 2008 and followed by the Detached House HOME4U site in February 2009. With the New Condominium HOME4U service already being provided nationwide, all the HOME4U services are now able to meet customer needs in all 47 Japanese prefectures.
The aim in fiscal 2009 will therefore be to boost marketing in regional and suburban areas of Japan to secure the cooperation of leading real estate-related firms in each area, toward expanding the profit base outside greater Tokyo.

Specific marketing-enhancement strategy measures in fiscal 2009 will include the following.

1. Signing up leading regional real estate firms
   While HOME4U up to now has been operated mainly in cooperation with big real estate companies, in fiscal 2009 the focus will be on signing up leading local realty firms in order to strengthen sales performance in areas outside of greater Tokyo.
2. Promoting tie-ups with major portal sites
   As a means of attracting users, HOME4U has made arrangements with more than ten major portal sites including BIGLOBE, Excite, goo, OCN, @nifty, and HOME ADPARK. Starting today, the site will share content with nomu.com, a site run by Nomura Real Estate Urban Net Co., Ltd.

As NTT DATA boosts its HOME4U marketing efforts further, both for gaining the participation of more companies and for sharing content with other portal sites and real estate firms, the aim will be not only to achieve greater mutual synergy but to become a comprehensive real estate information portal on which users can rely, and where they can conduct transactions with assurance.

About the HOME4U real estate information portal http://www.home4u.jp/

HOME4U is a real estate information portal site operated by NTT DATA, which began service in November 2001. In collaboration with leading real estate firms, the portal offers a comprehensive source of information for users interested in selling or buying properties, including new condominiums, detached houses and other kinds of real estate.

• Real estate information portal HOME4U
• HOME4U for Sellers
• HOME4U for Buyers
• New Condominium HOME4U
• Detached House HOME4U
• HOME4U Rental Management
• HOME4U Stock Mansion Catalog
• HOME4U Q&A

* HOME4U and are registered trademarks of NTT DATA Corporation.