Living in the future

Virtual reality is changing the way we purchase property

Bryant Chan

Proptech — or the use of new technologies in real estate — is disrupting the property market. Potential buyers can now get to know their dream homes without even stepping into a showflat.

Transforming how commercial and residential properties are designed, built, managed, bought, sold or rented, proptech today represents one of the fastest-growing industries not just in Singapore, but all over the world.

Three years ago, it did not even exist. But now, the Business Times reports, three forms of technology — blockchain, augmented reality and artificial intelligence — have been adopted by the Government, start-ups and global corporations for use in Singapore's real-estate market.

Of the three, augmented reality is most directly impacting property hunters. It leverages real-world content, computer-generated content (virtual reality) or a combination of both to allow users to experience a home without ever being physically in it.

As the most accessible type of proptech, it bears a great deal of similarities with the wildly popular mobile game, Pokemon Go. Just ask Mr Jackson Chong, chief executive of Panoleh.

The two-year-old company’s titular app is a virtual reality tour builder specifically tailored for real-estate professionals, allowing them to take 360-degree panoramic views of their available properties using their smartphones or a 360-degree camera. A composite of these visuals is then made and uploaded to the cloud, to be viewed by potential customers who download the app.

According to Mr Chong, the whole process of creating a virtual tour can be completed in less than five minutes.

The way he sees it, everybody wins. Buyers can use Panoleh to filter suitable properties, spending less time physically going down to inspect them.

Agents can use the time they would ordinarily spend meeting clients on other things, as well as save money on hiring a professional photographer — which can set them back $100 to $300 per shoot, depending on the size of the property.

“Because it’s helped to streamline and enhance the home-purchasing experience, more and more buyers are requesting virtual tours from their real-estate agents,” says Mr Chong.

“In future, we believe that buyers will be able to strap on a virtual-reality headset and have a completely immersive home-seeking experience.”