"Internet traffic and domains are the prime real estate of the 21st century," comments Forbes. "This market has matured, and individuals, brands, investors and organizations who do not grasp their importance or value are missing out on numerous levels."

Domain Name Sales Boom During Real Estate Bust

The $10 million sale of Fund.com during the first quarter of the year helped spark $38,029,543 in domain sales and high interest in generic domain names.
The real estate market may be languishing, but Web properties - domain names - are booming. In the first quarter of 2008, $38,029,543 in domain sales were reported, a 78% increase over the $21,253,105 in domain sales reported for the first quarter of 2007, said Ron Jackson, editor and publisher of DN Journal, in an e-mail.
"In the first quarter of 2008, 3,764 sales were reported to DN Journal, making the average sale reported $10,103," said Jackson. "In the first quarter of 2007, 3,086 sales were reported to us, but the average price was only $6,886. For all of 2007, 13,888 sales were reported to us, and the average sale for the year was $8,698. So 1Q-2008 showed a significant rise in both average sales price and total dollar volume reported."
This isn't just a reflection of the $10 million sale of Fund.com during the first quarter of the year, said Jackson. "Even if you pretended the Fund.com sale did not happen and just threw it out of the data, total sales in 1Q-2008 would still have been 32% higher than the same quarter a year ago when the general economy was in much better shape than it is now," he said.

"../.. 21% of media consumed today is on the Internet, while only 7% of advertising dollars are online. It is expected that generic domains will only become more valuable as ad dollars move online to keep pace with Internet-driven content consumption."