Sedo announced sales results for the third quarter of 2012.

Sedo, one of the largest online secondary domain marketplaces, has published the results of its market research for the third quarter of 2011. It presents the key trends in this market, identified based on the company's underlying transactions.

The study indicates that .COM domains continue to be the most popular, accounting for 49% of all sales in the third quarter of 2011. .NET domains again hold second place on the secondary market, accounting for 6% of gTLD sales. Among national domains, .DE (Germany) proved to be the most popular during this period. Sales of this domain increased by 3%, accounting for 21% of all transactions. .CO.UK (United Kingdom) is in second place, with a 7% market share.

The third quarter saw changes in the top three domains with the highest average price. Traditionally, these included .COM, .NET, and .ORG. However, this quarter, .INFO moved into third place with an average price of $519 per domain, pushing .ORG into fourth place.

The most common method for buying and selling domains was "hot offers," accounting for 32% of transactions on the Sedo marketplace this quarter. This demonstrates that buying and selling domains is rapidly becoming more popular.

The most expensive domain purchases of the quarter were grid.com ($275,000), republic.com ($200,000), and onlinedegree.com ($120,000). In total, 9,778 domain transactions worth $19 million were conducted worldwide in the third quarter of this year. The average price per domain was $1,900.

The rise in popularity of quick domain purchases using "hot deals" and the strengthening market position of the INFO domain, both noted in the study, indicate that buyers are increasingly looking to purchase domains quickly and have affordable investment opportunities.