Virtual tour for new construction: how developers sell apartments online
A virtual tour for a new building today is a mandatory sales tool, and not a pleasant bonus: apartment buyers are increasingly making booking decisions without visiting the property. According to real estate market research, listings with interactive 3D tours receive 3.5 times more views than pages with only photos. Developers who have launched tours at the foundation pit or finishing stage have recorded an increase in online applications by 30–50%. This article will tell you how the technology works, what you can realistically expect from the investment, and how much it costs in practice. Why does real estate need a 3D tour? The primary home market is competitive: on average, a potential buyer views 12-15 properties before scheduling their first showing. A virtual tour allows a developer to be shortlisted before a competitor even answers the call. Here are five concrete benefits with numbers. Expanding the geography of buyers. From 35 to 45% of transactions with new buildings in large cities are concluded by buyers from other regions. A virtual tour allows them to explore the layout, finishes, views and common areas in detail - and make a decision before traveling. A client from Yekaterinburg buying an apartment in Moscow remotely is today the norm, not the exception. The load on the sales department is reduced to 40%. The client, who has completed the tour independently, comes to the meeting with specific questions: what material is on the floor in the kitchen, is there a built-in closet in this layout. Managers spend time negotiating and closing deals rather than basic floor plan orientation. Applications are received around the clock. The tour operates 24/7. According to our real estate clients, between 18 and 22% of targeted calls are received between 20:00 and 08:00. A family choosing an apartment on Sunday evening submits an application then - rather than waiting for the office to open on Monday. The decision-making cycle is reduced by 5 days. Developers who have integrated 360° Space tours into the property card on the website, on average, reduce the time from first contact to booking from 14 to 9 days. The buyer has already visually “lived” in the apartment before signing the contract - fewer doubts, faster decision. The technological advantage is still available. Among active developers of Russian cities with a population of over a million, less than 25% of companies offer full-fledged interactive 3D tours. Those who implement the technology now have a gap with competitors that will become an industry standard in 2-3 years. How it works: shooting, timing and results Creating a virtual tour for a property is a predictable process with a fixed result. No creative assumptions: the buyer sees exactly what is on site right now. The entire cycle is divided into four stages. Stage 1 - Route approval (1 business day). Before leaving, the 360° Space specialist agrees with the project manager on the composition of the premises: living rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, balcony, corridor, and, if necessary, lobby, elevator hall and parking. For residential complexes with several standard layouts, we record which apartments we rent first and how we organize the updating of tours as buildings are commissioned. Stage 2 - Shooting the object (1-4 hours). A specialist works with a professional-grade spherical camera. Standard two-room apartment with an area of up to 70 m² - 1.5–2 hours. Apartments with panoramic glazing, non-standard layouts or detailed designer finishing - up to 3 hours. Large showrooms and demo apartments - up to 4 hours. From the developer's side: finishing work has been completed, lighting is on, construction debris has been removed. Stage 3 - Processing and assembly of the tour (2-5 working days). Viewpoints are stitched into a single space, navigation between rooms is configured. Upon request, interactive marks are added: room area, finishing material, link to the apartment card in CRM or an application form directly inside the tour. The final result is tested on smartphones of different sizes and in major browsers. Stage 4 - Publishing and integration (1 business day). The tour is hosted on 360° Space servers and embedded on the developer’s website using a standard iframe code - without the need to set up your own hosting or CDN. The tour opens correctly on mobile devices, supports VR helmets and direct links to individual rooms: it is convenient to send a specific room to the client in the messenger. For developers with several construction phases, tours are updated as the projects are ready: first we rent the showroom, then later we replace the tour with the final view with real finishing. A client who clicks on the link again sees the current state - without reworking the landing page. Total time frame: from application to publication - 5-7 working days for a standard object, 10-14 days - for a residential complex with several buildings and a set of layouts. See all projects → How much does a virtual tour cost for a new building? The price consists of three components: the area of the object, the number of shooting points and a set of options - proprietary interface branding, interactive marks with the characteristics of the apartment, a built-in application form. Guidelines for basic packages: Apartment up to 80 m² - from 8,000 rubles Demonstration apartment, showroom 80–200 m² - from 15,000 rubles Residential complex package: several standard layouts + common areas - from 35,000 rubles Corporate package: several objects with updated tours - calculated individually When ordering at the same time From three objects there is a 15% discount. Hosting is included in the price for the first year; renewal - 2,500 rubles per year per object. In our practice, real estate tours pay for themselves on 1-3 additional transactions closed thanks to online viewing, even before the end of the first quarter after publication. Calculate costProject catalogMatterport