Since the announcement of the government's $3.9 billion Energy Efficient Homes Package on 3 February, home insulation installers and providers have seen a surge of interest on the Home Improvement Pages (www.hipages.com.au).

Hipages.com.au is the most visited website in the building and Construction industry (Source: Hitwise) and has seen over 10,500 insulation searches since the announcement. This is up from an average of 3,300 for 2008, a massive growth of over 220 per cent.

"That's a dramatic increase in consumers researching insulation options" says David Vitek, CEO of Viteknologies. "While it still remains to be seen how much of this research will convert into actual transactions, we are seeing some definite trends emerging".

Vitek says that Homes Improvement Pages has 201 insulation product and service providers listed on the site, and says that a sure sign of improving business conditions for this sector of the home improvement industry is an increase in advertising from the providers.

"They're increasing their advertising spend to try and position themselves to take a share of this increased demand. We have already seen some of our advertisers increase their advertising spend with us by as much 2500 per cent"

Searches for insulation services exceeded 11,600 in February which is almost double the highest monthly figure for insulation services in the history of the site.

Although it is too early to form any conclusions on the effect the stimulus packages are having on the wider economy, the fact that more people are searching for insulation-related products on Home Improvement Pages is indicative of future intended activity.

The rapid response from the insulation related suppliers to increase their visibility within the site, would indicate their expectation of customer orders flowing in due course. This must surely be good news for a battered building industry.

Architecture & Design Team

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