Realestate.com.au has launched its app “real-estate VR” for Australians to explore and view properties in virtual reality on Daydream, Google’s high quality mobile virtual reality platform.
The Group grew from Realestate.com.au, Australia’s largest property website with 4.4 million unique browsers each month. The company now operates property websites in 10 countries that are used by more than 19,000 agents and have approximately 8.8m unique visitors per month.
The Company stated that the app will allow consumers to walk through properties listed for sale or lease room by room, while also featuring off-market properties from across Australia to give users inspiration or “simply daydream.”
Australia’s first dedicated virtual reality property app on Daydream features a range of active Realestate.com.au listings, allowing consumers to not only walk through their potential next home but also in their own time. The number of properties available in virtual reality is set to increase as the technology becomes more widely adopted.
This represents a leap forward for the real estate industry which has previously offered 360-degree interactive video tours, sometimes billed as virtual reality, but never a fully immersive, photo-realistic experience available across Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard HMDs.
Now onwards, a selection of properties on Realestate.com.au that have a Matterport scan are being showcased and can be explored in virtual reality, which is built on Matterport’s VR Software Development Kit (SDK). Over time, the vision is to include any property with Matterport VR.
Nigel Dalton, REA Group Chief Inventor, commented:
We’re excited to be offering Australia’s first property app on Daydream. Realestate VR will change the way people experience and interact with property. By 2020, most Australian homes will have VR headsets, and we’re confident the leading real estate agents will embrace virtual reality to create a brand new experience for a whole new generation of property seekers.Virtual reality has the unique ability to give us back time, which is the most precious commodity we have. Realestate VR will create time for everyone, whether that’s property seekers, agents or property managers.
The real-estate VR app is available in the Google Play Store for use on Daydream View, Google’s mobile VR headset and controller.
