After a year lived primarily through a screen, a study finds that the real estate industry fails to optimize online listings.
Of 12,500 analyzed properties posted on Realtor.com and Zillow from March through June, 94 percent did not include an immersive, 360-degree virtual tour, Inman reported, citing a study by real estate marketing firm BoxBrownie.
Only 16 percent of listings included a floor plan — and for single-family homes, just 10 percent did.
Less than 30 percent used professional photography. The industry standard, known as HDR bracketing, harnesses a technique that includes five different exposures to produce a well-lit photo.
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Those figures fall short of house-hunters’ expectations. A 2020 survey by the National Association of Realtors found 67 percent of buyers want floor plans and 58 percent expect virtual tours when they are browsing listings, BoxBrownie general manager Peter Schravemade told Inman.
Later this month BoxBrownie will release its full study, which will include guidance on how to get visual marketing right, as well as geographical data on which regions have the most effective marketing.
The company offered a teaser: New York has the largest proportion of listings with attractive photography, floor plans and virtual tours.
Schravemade said the hot seller’s market likely led agents to cut corners on visual marketing.
[Inman] — Suzannah Cavanaugh