Natalie Lamb
Managing Director International, Matterport
Amid affordability issues and inventory shortages in real estate, agents seek digital solutions to streamline processes and cut costs. The ‘digital twin’ can save time and money in this dynamic market.
While the past two decades have witnessed profound technological disruptions that have reshaped virtually every industry, the real estate sector has largely preserved its traditional approach to property marketing that’s riddled with inefficiencies and hidden costs.
Digital twins transform property marketing
Digital twins capture and replicate a space in immersive 3D. These photorealistic, dimensionally accurate digital renderings help serve as comprehensive marketing tools for real estate agents, offering a competitive edge to attract more qualified buyers, expedite transactions and increase rental bookings — but they go well beyond a virtual tour.
Digital twins can also provide agents with critical details that traditionally require several site visits and tedious manual work — from measuring every room to manually entering MLS data and even producing high-quality 2D photos.
All of this can be done from a single digital twin, vastly reducing the time spent preparing a home for the market while making it even easier to stand out.
Data is the new currency
In the past, real estate decisions were largely based on intuition and experience. Today, comprehensive datasets on property prices, demographics and market trends are now at the fingertips of realtors; and digital twin technology is the next frontier, offering detail into properties that were never previously accessible.
Beyond the virtual tour, digital twins collect billions of data points that can be leveraged to inform greater understanding of a property. This data can enable things like side-by-side property comparisons to better evaluate homes, such as examining square footage of popular living spaces, comparing ceiling heights or even evaluating more complex subjects, such as the brightness inside a home.
With a wealth of information just seconds away, buyers can make decisions with confidence while providing sellers with an effective way to attract more qualified buyers to their property.
In the future, generative AI will
transform how people envision a home.
AI revolutionising property management
Today, AI is already revolutionising property management with instantly accessible measurements and layouts of a space to help property managers quickly identify cost requirements for renovations, make space planning more efficient, as well as import data into other tools for analytics.
In the future, generative AI will transform how people envision a home, helping homeowners, designers and property managers reimagine a physical space with automated virtual interior design and staging, including making recommendations for how to optimise the use of these spaces.
Better property viewing and transaction experience
Digital twin technology is an easy way to take property marketing efforts to new heights. As younger buyers continue to enter the market, expectations for a seamless and immersive online experience will continue to grow.
Given the tremendous technology advancements available today, the real estate industry is ripe for broad disruption that will transform how people buy, sell, rent and manage their properties online and from anywhere in the world.