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Real Estate Data Scraping: Track Listings, Prices & Market Trends
//ScrapeGraphAI\\

Real Estate Data Scraping: Track Listings, Prices & Market Trends

Author 1

Marco Vinciguerra

Properties hit the market and vanish within 72 hours. Prices shift daily based on inventory, interest rates, and neighborhood hype. Investors, agents, and homebuyers who get data first close deals. Everyone else watches from the sidelines.

Why Real Estate Data Scraping?

Manually tracking properties across platforms is a losing game:

  • Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com - Different inventory, different data, different timing
  • Price changes happen daily - A $50K price drop today is gone tomorrow
  • New listings appear constantly - Prime properties get offers within hours
  • Market trends shift fast - Last month's hot zip code is this month's plateau

A real estate tracker powered by AI scraping watches everything simultaneously. You get alerts the instant opportunities appear, not the day after someone else grabs them.

How ScrapeGraphAI Powers Real Estate Tracking

Real estate websites fight scrapers hard. Dynamic content, interactive maps, infinite scroll, lazy loading, anti-bot measures. ScrapeGraphAI's AI cuts through all of it, extracting clean property data regardless of how the site tries to hide it.

Extract Property Listings

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
# Initialize the client with your API key
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
# SmartScraper request to extract property listings
response = client.smartscraper(
    website_url="https://www.zillow.com/san-francisco-ca/",
    user_prompt="""Extract all property listings including:
    - Address
    - Price
    - Bedrooms and bathrooms
    - Square footage
    - Lot size
    - Year built
    - Days on market
    - Listing agent
    - Property type (house, condo, townhouse)
    - Key features
    - Listing URL
    """
)
 
print("Result:", response)

Example Output:

{
  "listings": [
    {
      "address": "123 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102",
      "price": "$1,250,000",
      "bedrooms": 2,
      "bathrooms": 2,
      "sqft": 1450,
      "year_built": 2018,
      "days_on_market": 12,
      "property_type": "Condo",
      "features": ["City View", "Parking", "Gym Access"]
    }
  ]
}

Structured Property Data with Schemas

For reliable property databases, use Pydantic (Python) or Zod (JavaScript) schemas to enforce consistent data structures:

from scrapegraph_py import Client
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from typing import List, Optional
 
class PropertyListing(BaseModel):
    address: str = Field(description="Full street address")
    city: str = Field(description="City name")
    state: str = Field(description="State abbreviation")
    zip_code: str = Field(description="ZIP code")
    price: int = Field(description="Listing price in dollars")
    bedrooms: int = Field(description="Number of bedrooms")
    bathrooms: float = Field(description="Number of bathrooms")
    sqft: int = Field(description="Square footage")
    lot_size: Optional[str] = Field(description="Lot size")
    year_built: Optional[int] = Field(description="Year property was built")
    days_on_market: Optional[int] = Field(description="Days since listing")
    property_type: str = Field(description="House, condo, townhouse, etc.")
    features: List[str] = Field(description="Key property features")
    listing_url: Optional[str] = Field(description="URL to full listing")
 
class ListingsResponse(BaseModel):
    listings: List[PropertyListing] = Field(description="All property listings found")
    total_count: int = Field(description="Total number of listings")
 
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
response = client.smartscraper(
    website_url="https://www.zillow.com/san-francisco-ca/",
    user_prompt="Extract all property listings with full details",
    output_schema=ListingsResponse
)
 
data = ListingsResponse(**response["result"])
for prop in data.listings:
    price_per_sqft = prop.price / prop.sqft if prop.sqft else 0
    print(f"{prop.address}: ${prop.price:,} (${price_per_sqft:.0f}/sqft)")

Typed schemas make price-per-sqft calculations, filtering, and database storage predictable.

Search for Properties Across Multiple Sites

SearchScraper pulls listings from all major platforms in one request:

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
# Initialize the client
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
# SearchScraper request to find properties
response = client.searchscraper(
    user_prompt="Find 3-bedroom houses for sale in Austin, TX under $500,000 with
        prices, addresses, and square footage",
    num_results=5
)
 
print("Result:", response)
 

Get Detailed Property Information

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
# Deep dive into a specific listing
response = client.smartscraper(
website_url = (
        "https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/123-Main-St-94102/home/12345678",
    )
    user_prompt="""Extract complete property details:
    - Full address
    - Current listing price
    - Price history (all previous prices and dates)
    - Tax assessment value
    - HOA fees if applicable
    - Property description
    - All interior features
    - All exterior features
    - Heating and cooling
    - Parking details
    - School ratings (elementary, middle, high)
    - Walk score, transit score, bike score
    - Nearby amenities
    - Recent sales in the area
    - Estimated rent value
    """
)
 
print("Result:", response)
 

Building a Complete Real Estate Tracker

Step 1: Define Your Search Criteria

search_criteria = {
    "locations": [
        "San Francisco, CA",
        "Oakland, CA",
        "San Jose, CA"
    ],
    "property_types": ["house", "condo"],
    "min_beds": 2,
    "max_beds": 4,
    "min_price": 500000,
    "max_price": 1500000,
    "min_sqft": 1000
}

Step 2: Monitor Multiple Platforms

def monitor_all_platforms(criteria):
    platforms = {
        "zillow": f"https://www.zillow.com/homes/{criteria['location']}/",
        "redfin": f"https://www.redfin.com/city/{criteria['location']}/",
        "realtor":
            f"https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/{criteria['location']}"
    }
 
    all_listings = []
 
    for platform, url in platforms.items():
        listings = client.smartscraper(
            website_url=url,
            user_prompt=f"""Find properties matching:
            - {criteria['min_beds']}-{criteria['max_beds']} bedrooms
            - Price ${criteria['min_price']:,} to ${criteria['max_price']:,}
            - Minimum {criteria['min_sqft']} sqft
 
            Extract: address, price, beds, baths, sqft, listing URL"""
        )
 
        for listing in listings.get("properties", []):
            listing["source"] = platform
            all_listings.append(listing)
 
    return all_listings
 

Step 3: Track Price Changes

import json
from datetime import datetime
 
def track_price_changes(property_id, current_price, history_file="price_history.json"):
    # Load existing history
    try:
        with open(history_file, 'r') as f:
            history = json.load(f)
    except FileNotFoundError:
        history = {}
 
    # Add new price point
    if property_id not in history:
        history[property_id] = []
 
    history[property_id].append({
        "price": current_price,
        "date": datetime.now().isoformat()
    })
 
    # Check for price drop
    if len(history[property_id]) > 1:
        previous = history[property_id][-2]["price"]
        if current_price < previous:
            price_drop = previous - current_price
            return {"alert": "price_drop", "amount": price_drop}
 
    # Save updated history
    with open(history_file, 'w') as f:
        json.dump(history, f)
 
    return None

Step 4: Set Up Alerts for New Listings

def check_new_listings(current_listings, known_listings_file="known_listings.json"):
    # Load known listings
    try:
        with open(known_listings_file, 'r') as f:
            known = set(json.load(f))
    except FileNotFoundError:
        known = set()
 
    new_listings = []
 
    for listing in current_listings:
        listing_id = listing.get("address") or listing.get("url")
        if listing_id and listing_id not in known:
            new_listings.append(listing)
            known.add(listing_id)
 
    # Save updated known listings
    with open(known_listings_file, 'w') as f:
        json.dump(list(known), f)
 
    return new_listings

Real Estate Data Points to Track

Data Point Why It Matters
List Price Current asking price
Price History Negotiation leverage
Days on Market Seller motivation
Price per Sqft True value comparison
HOA Fees Total cost of ownership
Tax History Annual carrying costs
School Ratings Family appeal
Walk Score Lifestyle fit
Comparable Sales Fair market value
Rental Estimates Investment potential

Use Cases

Real Estate Investors

  • Track properties across multiple markets simultaneously
  • Spot undervalued properties before competitors
  • Monitor rental yield opportunities in real-time
  • Identify price reduction patterns that signal motivated sellers

Just like building a price monitoring bot for e-commerce, real estate tracking demands automated, continuous data collection.

Home Buyers

  • Get instant alerts when new listings match your criteria
  • Track price changes on properties you're considering
  • Compare prices across neighborhoods objectively
  • Never miss a price drop on your dream home

Real Estate Agents

  • Monitor competitor listings and pricing strategies
  • Track market inventory levels to advise clients
  • Identify pricing trends by neighborhood
  • Build data-driven comparative market analyses

Property Managers

  • Track rental market rates across your service area
  • Monitor vacancy rates in target neighborhoods
  • Surface investment opportunities for your clients

Platforms to Monitor

ScrapeGraphAI handles all major real estate platforms:

  • Zillow - Largest consumer listing database
  • Redfin - Agent-direct listings with accurate data
  • Realtor.com - Direct MLS integration
  • Trulia - Strong neighborhood insights
  • Apartments.com - Rental market coverage
  • LoopNet - Commercial property focus
  • Local MLS sites - Regional exclusive listings

Best Practices

1. Deduplicate Listings

The same property appears on multiple platforms. Always dedupe by address to avoid counting it twice and skewing your analysis.

2. Track Historical Data

Point-in-time snapshots tell you almost nothing. Build a historical database. Price trends over weeks and months reveal true market direction.

3. Calculate True Metrics

List price is marketing. Price per square foot, price vs. tax assessment, and recent comparable sales tell you what a property is actually worth.

4. Monitor Sold Properties Too

Asking prices are wishes. Sold prices are reality. Track both to understand the gap between them in your market.

5. Respect Rate Limits

Real estate sites deploy aggressive anti-scraping measures. Space out your requests. Consistent, moderate scraping beats aggressive scraping that gets blocked.

Get Started Today

Every day you spend manually checking listings is a day someone else closes on your deal. ScrapeGraphAI lets you build a real estate tracker that monitors every listing across every platform automatically.

Ready to track real estate like a pro? Sign up for ScrapeGraphAI and build your property tracker today. The free tier gives you enough credits to monitor your target market.

Give your AI Agent superpowers with lightning-fast web data!