January saw a massive 850% year-on-year increase in virtual viewings of properties captured by Spec. Our virtual tours were viewed nearly 80,000 times in January, compared to a little over 8,000 in the same month last year.

Further highlighting the influence of virtual tours, last week one agent put two separate properties under offer to buyers who have not seen the property in person with the help of Spec’s marketing assets.

Another leading agent that is benefitting from embracing virtual tours is Foxtons, as Patrick Franco, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, attests:

“At Foxtons, technology has always been at the heart of our service and with COVID-19 challenging the industry to adapt to new ways of working, virtual tours are now key. Last year, our website remotely opened the door to over 300,000 virtual property tours, helping maximise exposure of clients’ properties and also keeping Londoners safe by providing an alternative to in-person viewings.
“We believe exceptional estate agency service involves the right balance of expert people and leading technology, and our partnership with Spec helps cement this proposition,” said Franco.

As well as providing protection during the pandemic, the potential contribution of virtual viewings to reducing carbon emissions is huge. Around 26,800,000 physical property viewings a year in the UK could be replaced with a virtual tour.

This could lead to a combined reduction in driving of 410,000,000 miles, equivalent to taking 51,500 cars off the road each year and reducing greenhouse emissions by 95.3k tonnes. Our complete study is available here.

Combining high quality virtual tours and floor plans that are guaranteed for accuracy gives buyers the confidence that they otherwise lack when viewing properties online. This trust and transparency is so important given the current need to limit physical viewings. Longer term, virtual tours will continue to simplify and improve property searches as well as having enormous environmental benefits.