There are many databases that can be useful when researching the real estate industry. The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library. For legal questions, consider contacting the Law Library of Congress.
Classification systems used for statistical purposes and indexing can be useful when conducting database searches. Knowing these schemes can make industry research a bit easier because most databases, many of the print sources, and the U.S. government (most notably the Census) use them to create charts, graphs, lists, and indexes.
The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system was established by the U.S. Government to provide a uniform means for collecting, presenting, and analyzing economic data. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), adopted in 1997 by the U.S. Canada, and Mexico, replaced the SIC system and is the new standard for economic data. The following industry codes are related to the real estate sector. You may want to refer to these when you do industry searches in online databases or print directories: