House-hunting? The way we purchase them is set to revolutionise
IMAGINE if you could walk into a room and view 10 properties at the same time, rather than travelling to different locations to view them.
New technology is allowing property buyers to “walk” through new off-plan development without even entering the physical showroom unit.
It does sound far-fetched but virtual reality centre VR Lab Malaysia is offering a fully immersive, head-mounted, virtual reality (VR) experience for the real estate industry here.
The company has developed V-Prop Touch, a solution to be used with VR technology that allows prospective buyers to experience properties they plan to buy even before construction begins.
VR Lab co-founder and chief executive officer Datin Shireen Tan says this represents a leap forward for property buyers and sellers around the globe to “meet, view, interact and buy” properties through a real-time online platform using VR, anytime and anywhere.
WAY OF THE FUTURE
As a property inventor herself, Tan invests locally due to the hassle of travelling abroad to buy properties.
“Although buying a property outside the country is one of my dreams, the travel cost and time constraint deter me,” she says.
“That was the problem I faced. Realising my niche in VR, I decided to help other property buyers by developing the V-Prop Touch solution,” she adds.
The technology is the way of the future as it can save real estate companies from building physical showrooms. Instead, they can model their properties virtually and get feedback from consumers and professionals.
VR lab utilises HTC Vive headsets to enable people to view properties.
“Once they wear the headsets, users can fully immerse themselves in the property unit, interact with objects in the room, and even move out to the balconies where they can experience the fantastic views,” says Tan.
For those who don’t have the time to attend a property launch, VR will deliver the viewing experience at their preferred time.
“V-Prop Touch can help open up access to the booming Malaysian property market to first-time investors,” she adds.
It can also offer the experience of completed interiors to give viewers an idea of the atmosphere of the spaces, colour palettes and even lighting choices.
The best thing about the VR immersive experience is that it can give an exact sense of size and space.
“This may be better than buying property in the physical world,” says Tan.
“It’s great that buyers now have the benefit of knowing that what they see is what they’ll get,” she says.
Buyers can take measurements virtually, walk, touch, even jump in the VR environment at 1:1 scale with the physical world.
V-Prop Touch has built-in solutions which enable users to buy the property within VR itself.
“Property buyers can meet the developer, lawyer and banker in the virtual show unit and complete the transaction within 30 minutes of utilising the solution.”
PIONEER PROJECT
UEM Sunrise is the first property developer here to use the V-Prop Touch for its Solaris Parq project, which will be launched in the fourth quarter of the year.
It will take one to three months to develop virtual show units for each project, depending on the developer’s requests.
Prospective buyers can either go the developer’s office to view the virtual show units or any VR Lab branches to view all the available listed properties.
Ideally, if users have their own VR headsets, they can also download the customised VR app and take the VR tour from the comfort of their home.
VR Lab is in collaboration with Messrs Elizabeth Siew & Co as its legal partner, and opens opportunity for banks to be partners in their VR world.