An End-to-End Digital Experience for Home Leasing

When it comes to finding a place to rent, gone are the days of looking at a couple of poorly lit photos of apartments while trying to line up as many in-person showings as you can in one weekend. Today, we’re seeing fewer in-person showings to keep all parties involved safe. With that in mind, we’ve had to rethink the process behind effectively finding and marketing a home to lease.

That’s why we teamed up with leading rental marketplace Zumper to bring our 3D capture and spatial data technology to their platform. Together, we polled 1,000 property owners and 1,000 renters in the U.S. We found the 3D tours are a key element for both owners and renters in today’s apartment search and leasing process.

Choosing a place to live is an incredibly important decision, and working from home has almost completely eliminated the commute as a factor in such decisions. The ability to work remotely has triggered an exodus from expensive, urban city centers to places with more affordable costs of living. While proximity to work used to limit where employees could live, our survey found that only a mere 3% of renters felt commute time was the most important factor in deciding on a home to rent.

When it came to the most important listing details, renters chose 3D tours and videos (33%) first, followed by image quality (24%), listing description (16%) and floor plans (13%). Today, far fewer in-person walkthroughs have been taking place to keep all parties involved safe, which has made it harder for potential renters to gauge the feel and flow of the space. These are critical factors for evaluating a home, and 3D tours enable a more immersive experience that gives viewers an understanding of the space that photos alone simply cannot capture. 

Our survey also revealed that almost three-quarters (71%) of renters would lease a home sight-unseen if it had a 3D tour. Potential renters can remotely “walk through” a virtual model of a home, navigating the space simply by clicking or tapping their screen; they can look up or down, as well as side to side, just as they would in real life. The transition from one point to the next is seamless and free of visual distortions. In addition, they can “visit” whenever they want – essentially a 24/7 open house – and explore the home at their own pace. No more crowded open houses or feeling rushed during tightly scheduled in-person showings. The 3D tour is also accessible by anyone, from anywhere, on any device.

What’s more, 95% of renters would be more likely to lease a home that had a 3D tour over one that didn’t. The Matterport 3D tour enables dollhouse view so the prospective renter can see how the rooms are laid out and get the big picture of the space. With Measurement Mode, viewers can measure the size of each room – even digitally measure walls, doors, windows, or see if their furniture will fit in the space.

Despite the overwhelming preference for 3D tours, only two-thirds of property owners said they have advertised with one. Of those who had used a 3D tour, 82% were able to lease entirely virtually. The immersiveness and richness of information provided by a 3D tour gives renters the confidence to lease a home without ever setting foot in the space before moving in. This is a boon for property owners, enabling potential renters to safely and remotely make a confident decision. 

Property owners understand the value of 3D tours more than ever. A staggering 98% of owners felt 3D tours would give their listings a competitive edge and 83% felt their listing would rent faster. With Zumper, owners not only gain 3D tours, but have access to Matterport’s suite of features they can use for rental property marketing, including multiple Dollhouse and Floor Plan views, five exterior 360° panoramas, 4K print-quality photos, dimensionally accurate 2D schematic floor plans, as well as guided and video tours. All of these assets allow owners to easily market their property with the ability to share their Matterport content on any platform, including social networks.

To learn more about how anyone can use Matterport to attract prospective and high-quality renters and increase engagement, visit https://matterport.com/industries/real-estate.