Real estate professionals are using AR in exciting ways to bring imagination to reality and give buyers an immersive view of the property.
CHICAGO – In the world of technology, a truism that is often overlooked is that “new” doesn’t necessarily mean new. Often, it just means new to you. Take Augmented Reality (AR), for example. We’ve actually been using AR for fun for a while now. Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat dog filters, and Pokémon GO are just a few examples. AR is a general term that covers the intersection of the real and virtual worlds. It can be defined as the use of technology to add virtual elements to a user’s real-world experience, augmenting or enhancing that experience.
What’s new about AR is the innovative ways it can be used across multiple business sectors, including real estate, driven by the incredible potential of artificial intelligence, much of which is currently in development or yet to come.
A brief history of AR
In 1968, Harvard professor and computer scientist Ivan Sutherland invented the first headset display that used computer-generated graphics to augment the user’s perception of the world. The term “augmented reality” was coined in 1990 by Boeing researchers. In 1998, AR was first used in a live NFL game, featuring the 1st & 10 graphics system (what most viewers recognize as the yellow yardage markers that indicate first downs). In 2014, Google introduced AR glasses (Google Glass) that users could wear to create an immersive, internet-enabled experience. In 2017, IKEA introduced the IKEA Place app, which allowed customers to preview home décor and furniture options before purchasing. In 2018, the first AR real estate app, Curate by Sotheby’s International Realty, was introduced, allowing users to view virtually staged images from their Apple devices.
Current Real Estate Use Cases
Real estate professionals are using AR in exciting ways to bring imagination to life and give buyers immersive views of properties. For example, potential buyers can use a mobile device app to scan property listings and explore 3D models of the home and interiors, which provide better visualization and understanding than traditional floor plans and 2D images.
Combined with the power of generative AI, real estate professionals can use AR to promote and showcase properties in more sophisticated ways than ever before. Virtual Staging AI(link is external) is one example of a website or app that uses generative AI to provide services that help you highlight and promote your property. AI algorithms can scan photos and add elements like furniture, lighting fixtures, and landscaping. REimagineHome offers AI-enabled services like virtual remodeling, staging, landscaping, decluttering, and visualization of properties under construction.
The benefits of using AR technology in the real estate industry are clear: not only can real estate professionals gain a competitive advantage by providing local and remote buyers with a convenient, interactive property viewing experience, but they can also realize business value and cost savings. Research shows that agents and brokers who use AR to market their properties see up to 40% higher conversion rates and up to 97% lower staging costs.
Opportunities to further evolve AR
The real estate industry is also a sector with great potential where AR can further enhance the services real estate professionals can provide to their clients and the business value they can derive from these powerful tools.
AR tools are evolving, allowing users to take photos and look through a mobile device (such as a smartphone camera or AR glasses) to generate views that allow them to do things like turn a bedroom into an office or remove everything from a room to see the possibilities from a blank slate. Renovate AI(link is external) does just that, helping you plan interior and exterior renovations from incredibly detailed real estate photos.
AR property tour: This allows potential buyers in other cities to use a mobile app that generates a virtual model of the home. Interested buyers can tour room by room as if they were walking through the property. Decorative changes, potential renovations, and visualization of 360-degree views of each room are all possible in AR with a digital twin (a digital replica of the property). Matterport, a leader in real estate technology, immersive 3D digital property twins, and AI, has been acquired by CoStar to expand its development of innovative AI and digital twin technologies for real estate.
Location-based AR: With this coming technology, if a user spots their dream home while driving or walking around, they can simply point their smartphone camera at it, and the AR app will instantly display detailed property specifications, including square footage, number of rooms/bathrooms, price, and a direct link to the real estate agent.
The tech industry understands that AR is a powerful economic driver and technology investments are big bets. Research has estimated that the global AR industry will be worth $56.3 billion in 2023. By 2032, its value could reach $1.2 trillion.
What AR can do for you and your customers
Technology doesn’t have to be new to bring innovation, capability and value to real estate. By combining the real and virtual worlds, agents and brokers can provide buyers with value that goes far beyond enhanced visualization. It creates opportunities for time and cost efficiencies, increased customization and flexibility, improved communication, real-time updates and more informed decision-making. And once tech-savvy buyers know about technology, they’ll want to use it and may even expect it.
AR has been around for a while now, and now is the time for real estate professionals to offer their clients new ways to expand the potential of their existing properties and develop even better ways to promote, showcase, and sell their properties.
© 2024 National Association of Realtors® (NAR)
