Many apartment hunters are checking the Internet before going to real estate companies, which in turn are offering benefits to potential clients as part of sales campaigns.

The rental housing business is most brisk in the January-March period when university entrants, new employees and company workers transferred to different locations are hunting for apartments.

Apamanshop Holdings Co. of Tokyo, which has more than 900 branches nationwide, has installed liquid crystal TV sets capable of receiving terrestrial digital broadcasting in about 15,000 condominiums and apartments across the country. Apartment hunters can get information about the campaign on the Internet.