JELLIS CRAIG STAYS AHEAD OF COMPETITORS WITH MATTERPORT

An Early Adopter

The real estate business in Melbourne is the most competitive in Australia. The top agencies that list Melbourne’s properties for sale and for rent are known for outstanding service, and they have to constantly differentiate themselves from the pack to win clients. 

Jellis Craig has found a way. Established in 1991, the real estate group has a reputation for ethics, integrity, and personal service as well as a commitment to progressive thinking and innovation. It specializes in selling and leasing high-end properties throughout Victoria and has offices strategically placed throughout the city of Melbourne. One of its superpowers? Early adoption of new technologies.

The company has a long-standing relationship with the property listing portal realestate.com, and in 2014, one of the service’s agents showed Jellis Craig what a Matterport camera could do: capture properties and create immersive and navigable 3D experiences that are the next best thing to being there. 

The two companies tried out Matterport and scanned a small portion of Jellis Craig’s properties. “Our partnership with realestate.com helped ensure that the Matterport scans were posted and functional on our website,” says Head of Department, Sam Nokes. “Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to provide the scans to customers for virtual tours.”

At the time, no one else in the Melbourne area used Matterport. Jellis Craig had found a differentiator.

“Clients are amazed that the scans look exactly like the actual property,” says Marketing and Administration Coordinator Angela Ambrosino. “No one is disappointed when they show up in person after viewing a virtual tour. Many of our landlords and prospective landlords chose to list with us because they wanted to offer the Matterport experience, and no other agency provided it.”

Better Listings Through Advanced Analytics

Six months later, Jellis Craig bought its own Matterport Pro2 camera. And the company forged a new partnership with PHORIA — the local technology studio that developed CAPTUR3D, a 3D Virtual Tour platform built specially for the real estate industry.

After Jellis Craig’s agents create their own Matterport scans, the CAPTUR3D team gets to work enhancing still photographs, floor plans and applying advanced analytics.

“Jellis Craig is one of our leading clients,” says Alex Hitchcock, senior account manager at PHORIA. “Working with them has given us a lot of insight into how the real estate industry works and what agencies need when it comes to photo retouching, floor plans, videos, and analysis of how people use that content, what they look at, and for how long.”

CAPTUR3D's analytics are especially important because real estate agencies aren’t always able to get feedback from every prospective tenant after showing a property. But since the analytics indicate which properties and rooms tenants spend the most time viewing, Jellis Craig can determine if there’s a problem somewhere; for instance, if a bathroom or kitchen might need a bit of work.

“If we have a scan that’s getting a lot of views but only half the usual number of inquiries, that’s a red flag for us,” Ambrosino says. 

The real estate business came to a halt in Melbourne during the first coronavirus lockdown in early 2020. After it ended, Jellis Craig’s agents quickly prepared for a second wave, using Matterport to capture as many properties as possible. “It paid off,” Ambrosino says. “We had a second lockdown, yet we still managed to lease 80 properties sight unseen thanks to Matterport. Forty of those properties were leased in one month alone.”

Thriving During Lockdowns

While agents weren’t able to show properties to prospective tenants in person, they were able to showcase apartments and houses online for clients to virtually tour. Tenants could even retrieve measurements from the scans so they’d know if their furniture would fit. More often than not, they then reserved a property within 24 hours.

“There’s a building here in Melbourne that had 36 properties available for lease,” says Nokes. “We represented one, and other agencies represented the other 35. These were apartments that were essential all the same.

Jellis Craig was the only company with a Matterport 3D scan, so we were the only company that managed to lease one. At the end of the lockdown, the other 35 apartments were still on the market.”

Steep Cost Reductions 

Matterport helps Jellis Craig lease properties faster. It also reduces expenses.

The company saves between $150,000 and $200,000 each year because it was able to reduce the number of leasing consultants from four to two,” Ambrosino says.

The company also no longer needs relocation agents playing middleman roles since clients moving to the greater Melbourne area from another state or from overseas can view the Matterport scans from anywhere in the world. “We can close a deal with tenants who otherwise would have no idea if a property would work for them or not,” Ambrosino says.

The competition is scrambling to catch up. “We are the only ones in Melbourne who have used Matterport for a long time,” says Nokes. “Some of our competitors use it now, but only because they have to keep up.”

Jellis Craig is a leading real estate group based in Melbourne, Australia, that is distinguished by a commitment to progressive thinking and innovation. Founded in 1991, the company specializes in selling and leasing high-end properties in and around the Australian state of Victoria. 

 https://www.jelliscraig.com.au/

HEADQUARTERS: Melbourne, Australia

INDUSTRY: Residential real estate

CHALLENGE: Maintain a leadership position in the highly competitive real estate industry by investing early in cutting-edge technologies that benefit clients.

PRODUCTS: Matterport Pro1, Matterport Pro2

SOLUTION: Matterport creates virtual 3D tours of real estate properties that are the next best thing to being there.

RESULTS: Winning more listings; Increased understanding of listing performance with CAPTUR3D integration; Reducing yearly operating expenses up to $200K; Boosting market share