Through the 3D-hole: Estate agents offer potential buyers interactive cyber tours of properties placed off-limits during coronavirus lockdown by using special virtual reality cameras
- Estate agents have not been granted essential status during the Covid-19 crisis
- House hunters are not allowed to visit properties which are up for sale in the UK
- Software companies have developed 3D systems to allow ‘virtual viewings’
Estate agents are being forced to rely on 3D interactive tours because of the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.
Traditionally, estate agents would arrange a time for people to view a property and walk them around the building.
However, due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis and the threat of spreading Covid-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson banned face-to-face tours.
Estate agents are offering 3D virtual viewings using special software in an effort to keep the property market moving during the coronavirus lockdown
The agent can take several 3D photographs in each room which are stitched together using special software, which also creates a floor plan, to give the buyer a better idea of the building’s layout
The software builds a ‘virtual view’ of the house, allowing the user to jump between rooms
Several major London-based property firms are using the technology, which is hosted by companies such as Matterport
Instead of taking a customer around a property, the agent can use a special 3D camera to take photographs in each room.
To ensure full coverage, several photographs are taken in each room.
The images are then fed into a special software application which allows someone to take a virtual tour. The guest is able to spin around and see everything the camera is able to view.
By pointing their mouse or finger at a corridor, the user will step through and into an other room.
Or, for the more technically advanced house hunter, it is possible to take a full virtual tour using a VR headset.
James Morris-Mauneul of Matterport said requests for its property scanning service have increased by 700 per cent over the past weeks.
He told the Evening Standard: ‘People have suddenly realised they need to digitise assets they may not be able to access for quite a while. The UK market was watching Spain and Italy and realised that shutdowns and more aggressive forms of social distancing were coming soon and they needed to get their house in order.’
Some other agents are trying to use walk through videos where someone films a piece to camera while showing off a property.
However, the coronavirus pandemic is bound to have an impact on the housing market.
The most recent survey from Nationwide Building Society – which took figures from before the epidemic – showing the price of an average house in the UK was £219,583, an increase of three per cent on March 2019.
James Morris-Mauneul of Matterport, who developed the software, said requests for its property scanning service have increased by 700 per cent over the past weeks
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: ‘Annual house price growth increased to 3 per cent in March, up from 2.3per cent the previous month – the fastest pace since January 2018 (when annual growth was 3.2 per cent).
‘The last six months have all seen month-on-month increases, after taking account of seasonal effects.
‘It is important to note that, while we use a full month’s worth of data to generate the index, the cut-off point is slightly before the end of the month.
‘This means that developments following the UK Government’s lockdown will not be reflected in these figures.
‘Housing market activity is now grinding to a halt as a result of the measures implemented to control the spread of the virus, and where the Government has recommended not entering into housing transactions during this period.
‘Indeed, a lack of transactions will make gauging house price trends difficult in the coming months.
‘The medium-term outlook for the housing market is also highly uncertain, where much will depend on the performance of the wider economy.’
