Sedo presented its domain market research for the first quarter of 2012.

Online auction Sedo presented itsreporton the state of the secondary domain market in the first quarter of 2012.

During this period, Sedo participated in 10,100 domain name sales transactions with a total value of $19.6 million.

"This quarter's domain name market research results are extremely promising, showing the highest sales figures since the beginning of 2011, giving hope for a successful year overall. Sedo continues to invest heavily in expanding its global presence and looks forward to the launch of new gTLDs in 2013," said company spokesperson Liesbeth Mack-de Boer.

Key findings from Sedo's Q1 2012 survey include:

Names in the .COM domain remain the most frequently sold top-level domains, accounting for approximately 45% of all transactions. .DE domains are a distant second, accounting for 16% of all sales.

The top-selling domains in the first quarter were kboing.com, which sold for $150,000, and sol.com, which sold for €98,000.

While Chinese residents were the most active domain buyers in the first quarter, US residents accounted for 26% of all transactions on Sedo.

The first quarter of 2012 saw the highest sales volume since the second quarter of 2011. The total number of transactions on the Sedo marketplace amounted to 10,133.

Sales volume also increased in the first quarter, totaling $19.641 million. March was the busiest month of the first quarter, with the most transactions concluded.

The second quarter of 2011 is currently the leader in terms of sales volumes.

In the first quarter of 2012, the largest deals were concluded in February.

In the first quarter, the average price of domains sold ranged from $0.5 thousand to $2.5 thousand – such transactions accounted for 40% of all sales during this period on Sedo.

The most popular domains during this period were 7-10 characters long.