Are you more likely to buy a property if you can first take a virtual tour of it?

A study just published in one of the best information systems journals, Information Systems Research entitled “Does virtual reality help property sales? Empirical evidence from a real estate platform”, examines the influence of virtual tours of properties offered on online real estate platforms, concluding that they do not make any real contribution getting a higher price, but they do influence the time those properties remain on the market.

The study, carried out using data from Beike, a Chinese online real estate platform similar to Zillow, Matterport, ImmobilienScout24 or Idealista, explores the role of the most basic and non-immersive virtual reality technology: combinations of video and photographs in 360º format that allow the potential buyer to explore a property using a mouse.

This type of tool, generally offered by the platforms themselves, is a way to make a property stand out, offering the potential buyer a more interactive experience, as opposed to a collection of photos. Overall, the availability of these types of virtual tours reduced time to market by between 28% and 49%, or 19 to 34 days quicker.

Although no direct influence of virtual tours on the price of properties has been found, there is a certain indirect effect: in many cases, would-be buyers tend to reduce their offers the longer the property is on the market.

An interesting example of how technology can impact a sector, in this case real estate, potentially influencing the final sale price of a property.

(En español, aquí)