Real estate marketing strategies in the U.S. represent a “major disconnect” with the industry’s own consumer research, according to a new survey of property firms.

A mountain of data tells real estate executives that consumers use the Web for their property research. For example, a recent report by the National Association of Realtors found 90 percent of consumers start their real estate search online.

Yet, 76 percents of firms spend less than 30 percent of their marketing budgets on digital marketing, according to a survey of “hundreds of real estate firms” by the Brandeis University International Business School, sponsored by inSegment, a digital marketing company.

Fifty-eight percent of the respondents said their companies don’t do any search engine campaigns, the survey found.

“There is nothing surprising about the fact that all real estate consumers are on the Web,” Oleg Vyadro, founder of InSegment, a digital marketing company focused on real estate, said in a press release. “What is surprising is that while Google generates approximately 3 billion unique daily searches, only a small minority of real estate players are tapping into the opportunity in a serious way.”

Sure, Vyadro might be more than a bit biased, given his focus on digital marketing. But the report rings true for anyone familiar with the industry. New money continues to flow into old school marketing, even though there has been a clear shift in consumer trends.

The perceived complexities of digital campaigns and decreased budgets were most often cited as the reasons for slow response to the growing importance of the Internet, the study found.

Awareness of the Internet certainly wasn’t the issue. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents said they do not believe they are making the most of their online opportunities. However, 53 percent said they expect to “aggressively” increase online spending in 2010.