Virtual Tours and the New Construction Buyer

Click the 'Download' button to view and save the key statistics from this article.

The rise of remote touring technology has been a major boon for home buyers, saving them time and helping them narrow their search faster.

Instead of hitting up multiple tours on weekends or enlarging photos on their cell phones to zoom in on details, home shoppers can get a feel for a home and its features by “walking” through it online.

New construction (NC) buyers are increasingly gravitating to remote home touring and say they would like the technology to become even more widespread. But when it comes time to make an offer, they’re decidedly old-school. According to the Zillow Group New Construction Consumer Housing Trends Report 2020, most NC buyers still want to visit a home in person before they commit.

Buyers want more access to remote technologies

Nearly 3 out of 4 NC buyers (71%) agree that 3D tours would help them get a better feel for the space than static photos — a 10 point increase over 2019. And 60% wish more listings included 3D tours, compared to the 51% who expressed that sentiment a year ago.

While NC buyers have warmed to remote-viewing technologies — 34% say they prefer them over in-person tours compared to 28% who preferred them last year — a larger share disagrees: 45% of NC buyers still prefer to experience a home in person, a sentiment shared by buyers as a whole even during a pandemic.

What’s especially interesting is how NC buyers prefer a mix of human touch and technology around home tours. For instance, a majority (59%) of buyers who purchase newly built homes say they want to schedule in-person tours online, and 64% agree that it would be easier for them to unlock properties with their phone so they can tour them in person on their own time — an indication that they also prefer to tour without an agent or sales rep when experiencing a home for the first time.

The data also shows a big jump in the percentage of buyers who want their agent to handle all communication with the builder: 51%, compared with 34% last year, among buyers who used an agent.

Younger buyers show greater preference for virtual tours

As might be expected, the youngest new construction buyers show the greatest ease with using technology to buy a home. Nearly half (49%) of NC buyers at or under age 40 (Gen Z and millennials) say they feel very or extremely confident about making an offer on a home solely after seeing it virtually versus 36% of NC buyers between the ages of 41 and 55 (Gen X), and 10% of NC buyers over 56 (baby boomers and the silent generation).

First-time buyers, who skew younger, have a degree of comfort with remote tours that tracks with generational preferences: 47% of first-timers say they feel very or extremely confident making an offer on a home without visiting it in person versus 27% of repeat buyers. The difference may be due in part to the fact that younger generations tend to tour more homes, and therefore have more experience in seeing how accurately virtual tours reflect reality.

About 1 in 3 NC buyers (34%) say they feel very or extremely confident making an offer on a home after seeing it only via a 360-degree/virtual tour. That’s slightly higher than 29% of buyers of existing homes who feel the same way.

Despite the growing acceptance of remote touring, nearly half of all buyers appear to want more sensory information before they make a decision. Asked how confident they feel about buying a home they had only toured remotely, 46% of NC buyers and 47% of existing home buyers say they do not feel very confident or at all confident about making an offer.

Personality, experience influence confidence in remote tours

New construction buyers who were evaluated as medium or high risk-takers are more likely to be very or extremely confident making an offer on a home after only seeing a 360-degree/virtual tour compared to those who are more risk-averse.

The same is true of NC buyers who are selling a home at the same time. Preparing to sell a home, which typically involves accurately listing its features, taking photos and creating virtual tours, may build greater trust in virtual tours in general. Customers who’ve completed more real estate transactions could also be more likely to feel confident in using only remote touring.

Nearly half (48%) of households who sold their home before buying a newly built one say they would feel very or extremely confident making an offer after seeing only a 360-degree/virtual tour. The numbers decline when the transactions reverse order: Only 30% of NC buyers who sell after purchasing their first home feel the same way. And among those who are only buying a NC home, just 23% express confidence in moving forward with an offer after only experiencing the home remotely.

The importance of buildable plans

Perhaps the most useful virtual tool for NC buyers — and the most confusing — is the buildable plan.

Those who purchase newly built homes recognize the value of floor plans and overwhelmingly want more of them. Yet many buyers lack the knowledge to accurately translate them into something meaningful, and they want to be able to connect details on a floor plan with an image of that part of the home.

The problem is a significant one. More than half (56%) of NC buyers say they somewhat or completely agree that they wasted time viewing properties they would otherwise have skipped had they understood the floor plan.

Younger NC buyers are more likely to agree that they wasted time exploring homes that didn’t work for them because they hadn’t understood the floor plans ahead of time (65% of Gen Z and millennial NC buyers and 61% of Gen X NC buyers compared to 37% of baby boomer and silent generation NC buyers).

Baby boomer and silent generation NC buyers say they are more likely to view a home if the listing includes a floor plan they like (92% of them somewhat or completely agree with the statement, versus 84% of Gen Z and millennial NC buyers). But they’re also more likely to say that the only way to truly understand a home’s layout is to view the home in person (85% versus 72% of Gen Z and millennial NC buyers).
nHow important are floor plans overall? Almost 9 out of 10 NC buyers (87%) agree somewhat or completely that they’re more likely to view a home if the listing includes a floor plan they like compared to 77% of existing home buyers.

And 74% say they agree somewhat or completely that a dynamic floor plan that allows them to connect photos to a specific part of the house would help them determine if the home is right for them. Overwhelmingly, they say they would like the square footage included in floor plans that accompany listings.

Most NC buyers are looking to buy a home between 1,000 and 2,999 square feet. Technology can help them visualize and customize that space, and imagine how life might unfold inside.

Takeaways:

While 62% of NC buyers purchase a home already under construction or move-in ready, 38% are building one from a plan. Here are some ways to help all of your buyers:

• Post floor plans on all of your listings along with tips on how to read them.
• Point out where photos on a listing correspond to a floor plan to help buyers better visualize the space.
• Include square footage so buyers can get a sense of proportion and compare it to their current homes.
• Recognize that buyers are likely to be more overwhelmed than usual right now. Streamline and route communications through their agents when requested.
• Offer a variety of remote ways for buyers to experience and picture themselves in a home: floor plans, virtual tours like Zillow 3D Home® tours, photos that connect back to floor plans and virtual tours where someone walks through the house while on a video call with a buyer. These can help buyers shorten their search time and increase their interest in your homes.