Based on our anecdotal experience, we were sure the answer is yes. And now we’ve done some number crunching to back this up.
According to NWMLS, there were 1,836 single family home sales within the city of Seattle over the past 90 days. 207, or 11.3%, of these listings included a “my.matterport.com” 3D tour link*.
Because of the extreme inventory shortage, the median days on market was 7, across the board. (This means equal numbers of houses took less than, versus more than, 7 days to find a buyer).
But the average days on market, which more fully reflects how long the slowest sales took, tells a different story. Homes marketed with 3D tours sold in 12.45 days, on average, versus 18.33 days for those without.
The big story, though, is sale prices. The median result for homes with 3D tours was 7.05% over list price, versus 4.35% over asking for those without. In other words, in a market where median-priced-homes cost $800K, sellers whose agents invest in 3D tours walk away with $20,000+ more.
And lastly, let’s also consider the odds facing sellers in each group. 70% of homes marketed with 3D tours sold over asking price, versus 65% of those without. 84% of homes with 3D tours sold in less than 2 weeks, versus 81% of those without.
By the way, the average size of these 1,836 homes was 1,988 square feet. A professionally-produced 3D tour from Metroplex360 costs $239 for homes up to 2,000 square feet.
PS Some Realtors create 3D tours for their listings but don’t include the information in the “virtual tour” field of the MLS listing input form. These cases are not included in our comparison. And more importantly, nor are their 3D tours displayed on Redfin, a key source of homebuyer traffic.
PPS Speaking of Redfin, if you missed their Sight Unseen study, it’s worth a read. In their late-2017 survey of 1,503 recent homebuyers, 35% said they made offers without seeing the homes in person, up from 19% in 2016. Among millennials, 45% were willing to make 6- and 7-figure commitments based on information obtained online. You’d have to think 3D tours would facilitate this kind of decision-making.
