Robot, Virtual and Solo Home Tours Skyrocket The Housing Market Practices Social Distancing Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Though demand for home buying has plunged, Ali Ata observes, there are still people who need to move, and either rent or purchase a home. So, like most of the interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, home tours have moved online, with the help of robots and touring alone.

3D home tours

Home listing site Zillow has reported a 191% boost in their 3D home tours creation in early March as compared to the average number made in February. Even before the outbreak, listings, which included a 3D home tour, were saved by customers 50% more, and these properties sold 10% faster.

Agent-led video tours

Meanwhile, real estate brokerage Redfin cited a 494% rise in applications for agent-led video home tours, Ali Ata shares. A percentage of 18.9 of the tour inquiries from their website was for video-chat tours, an increase of 0.2% from early March.

Solo tours

The software company Rently makes digital lockboxes that allow a person to tour homes on his own and has also seen a soar in demand. An interested buyer or renter registers with their information and credit card details online then goes on over to the front door of the home with a valid ID and smartphone to get one-time access to enter. Self-touring statistics reveal that for March 2020, the company expects to assist 197,964 self-tours, an increase of 30% from last year.

Robot tours

Zenplace, a real estate start-up, provides virtual tours and tours facilitated by robots, Ali Ata imparts. The robots feature a screen where a real estate agent can communicate with the customer in a video chat setting and show them around the house.

According to Zenplace spokesman Jason Green, they see an unusual spike in demand for their platform across 35-plus states, including large urban areas that have been most affected to smaller cities where residents are practicing increased measures of social distancing.

Zenplace has seen a 293% boost in interest for its automated lockboxes and self-tours and a 278% increase in its 3D, online, and video tours since March 11, Ali Ata stresses.