Service
Property VR for Real Estate and Architecture
Property VR is a virtual reality walkthrough of a home or development viewed in a headset, and we build VR scenes of unbuilt properties for developers' sales suites, architects' design reviews and builders' model centers, as part of our 3D rendering service. Buyers and clients stand in the space at true scale before it is built, so ceiling heights, views and finishes are judged in the room rather than from drawings, and the delivery date, headset and format are fixed in a quote within 12 hours of receiving your plans.
First draft
360 panoramas in 3 to 5 business days
Deliverables
Headset builds and 360 panoramas
360 panoramas in 3 to 5 business days
First draft
Headset builds and 360 panoramas
Deliverables
Set in the fixed quote
Delivery date
Two rounds, in a test build
Revisions
01
What does VR mean in real estate?
In real estate, VR means a buyer wears a headset and walks through a property, usually one not yet built, at true scale. The point is scale: on a screen a 12-foot ceiling and a 9-foot ceiling look much the same, but in a headset a buyer feels the difference, and can stand at the kitchen island and look out of the window they are paying for.
What is a VR house tour?
A VR house tour is a headset walkthrough of a home made from 3D renderings or 360 scans. VR home tours of existing homes are usually camera scans; tours of homes that do not exist yet have to be rendered from the plans, which is the work we do.
02
What do you get with our property VR service?
A property VR order delivers a walkable real-time scene of the home or building, with furniture, materials and lighting, packaged to run on the headsets you use. VR rendering differs from still rendering: a still is calculated once, over minutes, while a headset must draw two views of the scene many times a second, which is real-time 3D rendering. That is why a VR scene is built and lit for speed from the start, and why the deliverables below range from simple look-around panoramas to full free-roam scenes. For buyers who will never put on a headset, the same model can become a 3D walkthrough animation for the website.
| Deliverable | Movement | Runs on |
|---|---|---|
| Rendered 360 panorama | Look around from one fixed point | A headset's 360 photo viewer, a phone or a browser |
| Panorama tour | Jump between fixed points with hotspots | A browser, a phone or a headset |
| VR walkthrough scene | Walk or teleport freely through the space | The headset and computer agreed in the quote |
| Finish switching and interactions | Change finishes, open doors, switch day and night | Built into the walkthrough |
Why teams send us their drawings
Drawn by architects
Plans, sections and finish schedules are read the way they were drawn, so the first draft is close.
Priced before we start
A fixed quote within 12 hours of receiving your files. The quote you accept is the one you pay.
A clay draft first
Camera angles and massing are agreed on a plain model before materials go on, so the final has no surprises.
Yours to use anywhere
Full commercial rights and 4K JPG and PNG files for print, web and listings.
03
Property VR examples
The strip below shows four frames captured from a headset's view: an apartment unit, a residential lobby, a townhouse living room and an office floor. They are concept work made by our team to show what a property VR scene looks like from inside.
04
Who uses VR in real estate?
Developers with sales suites, home builders with design centers and architects in client reviews order VR so buyers can stand inside a space before it exists. VR real estate work pays off where a buyer commits before construction: a condominium sold off-plan, a custom home, a penthouse whose views are the product. Virtual reality real estate scenes sit in the sales suite beside the physical model and the finish samples, and our page on real estate developer marketing shows how they fit with renderings, floor plans and animation.
What clients said about our interior designer's work
I sent over our floor plans and a few reference photos, and they took it from there. What stood out was how little back-and-forth we needed. They understood the brief and got most things right on the first attempt. The final images were exactly what our marketing team needed.
Robert Hayes · United States
We were struggling to agree on finishes for a client's kitchen renovation. Having the different options rendered made the decision so much easier. It saved us from making what could have been a very expensive mistake. Money well spent.
Emily Carter · United Kingdom
Honestly, the first draft wasn't quite what I had pictured. I sent through my comments, and the revised version was spot on. I appreciated that they actually listened rather than rushing through the changes. Happy with how everything turned out.
Daniel Cooper · Australia
05
Architectural VR for design reviews
Architectural VR lets clients and design teams check scale, sightlines and finishes inside the model before construction drawings are final. A ceiling height, a stair width or the view from a desk is easier to judge standing in it than reading it from a section, and a change at design stage costs a fraction of a change on site. For an architect, a VR scene is a review tool first and a marketing tool second.
VR interior design
Interior designers use VR so clients can stand in the room and compare finish options. A client who hesitates between two kitchen schemes can switch between them in the headset rather than imagine them from boards. The same rooms rendered as stills come from our interior 3D rendering services, for the presentation that follows.
06
VR vs 3D virtual tours
A 3D virtual tour runs in a browser and jumps between fixed points, while VR runs in a headset and can allow free movement; most buyers see the tour online and VR in the sales suite. A virtual reality real estate tour gives the stronger sense of space but needs a headset and someone to help the buyer put it on; a browser tour reaches every buyer on their phone. Each 3D home tour we make is built from the same model, so many developers order both.
| Factor | VR | Browser 3D tour |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is seen | Sales suite, design center, review meeting | Website, listing, email, social media |
| Equipment | A headset, and for some scenes a computer | Any phone, tablet or laptop |
| Movement | Free walking or teleporting | Jumps between fixed points |
| Sense of scale | Strong: the buyer stands in the room | Moderate: the buyer looks at a screen |
| Reach | One buyer at a time | Every buyer, any time |
| Best for | Buyers committing off-plan in the sales suite | Reaching every buyer before a visit |
07
What does a VR real estate tour do for your sales?
A VR real estate tour lets a buyer stand inside a unit that has not been built, so the decision to reserve is made on the space itself rather than on a floor plan. In the headset a buyer feels the ceiling height, looks out of the window at the view they are paying for and, where finish switching is built in, swaps the kitchen scheme while standing in the room. A look-around panorama and a free-roam scene do different jobs: a panorama shows one room from one point on any phone, and a walkthrough lets the buyer walk the whole unit.
| Option | What the buyer can do | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Rendered 360 panorama | Look around a room from one fixed point | Amenities and rooms shown on the website and in a headset viewer |
| VR walkthrough | Walk or teleport freely through the unit | Model units in the sales suite or design center |
| Finish switching, day and night, other interactions | Change finishes, open doors and see the room at night | Buyers choosing between finish options |
An example. A developer orders a VR walkthrough of a model two-bedroom unit for the sales suite, plus 360 panoramas of the lobby, gym, roof terrace and pool deck for the website. Buyers walk the unit in the headset and see the amenities on their phones, all from one model, and the fixed quote lists each scene, each interaction and the headset it is built for. Every service and its rate is listed in our 3D rendering pricing.
08
How long does a property VR project take?
A VR scene's delivery date is set in the fixed quote once plans and finishes are fixed, because the time depends on the size of the space and the interactions you want.
| Stage | Time |
|---|---|
| Fixed quote with delivery date | Within 12 hours of receiving your files |
| Rendered 360 panoramas, first draft | 3 to 5 business days |
| VR walkthrough scene | Dated in the quote |
09
What do you need to send us?
Send plans, finishes and a furniture brief, and tell us the headsets and venue.
- 01Send plans, elevations or the 3D model.
- 02Add the finish schedule and any options buyers can choose.
- 03Describe the furniture, or attach a mood board.
- 04Name the headsets, and the computer spec at the sales suite if there is one.
- 05List the interactions you want, such as switching finishes or opening doors.
10
How do revisions work?
Revisions are reviewed in a test build on your headset, with two rounds included.
- 01Walk the test build and check scale, layout and sightlines.
- 02Comment on finishes, furniture and lighting.
- 03Test every interaction, such as finish switches and doors.
- 04Approve the final build for delivery to the sales suite.
11
What file formats do you deliver?
VR is delivered in the format agreed in the quote: a build for a standalone headset, a build for a PC-powered headset, or 360 panoramas for web and headset viewers. We build headset scenes in Unreal Engine 5: scenes come in from 3ds Max and Revit through Datasmith, Lumen lighting keeps them close to our stills, and builds run on Meta Quest and PC VR headsets through OpenXR. Our review of Unreal Engine explains how the engine works for architectural VR.
| Format | Device |
|---|---|
| Standalone headset build | A headset that runs without a computer |
| PC VR build | A headset tethered to a computer with a capable graphics card |
| 360 panoramas as JPG | Headset photo viewers, phones and browsers |
12
Is this the same as 'virtual real estate'?
No: 'virtual real estate' also means buying land in online worlds, and this page is about VR walkthroughs of real buildings. Everything we build in VR is a property that is being designed or sold in the physical world.
Questions
Which headsets do you support?
Tell us the headsets you use, or plan to buy, in the brief, and the fixed quote names the headset and the build we deliver for it. If you have not chosen one, we say what the scene needs before you buy.
Can buyers change finishes in VR?
Yes. Finish switching can be built into a walkthrough scene, so a buyer can swap the kitchen or flooring options while standing in the room. Each switch is listed in the fixed quote.
Can we use the VR model for other images?
Yes. The model we build for VR can also produce stills, panoramas and animation, so later images do not start from scratch.
Get a quote for property VR
Send the brief and files through the form and we reply with a fixed quote within 12 hours of receiving them. We are a 3D visualization company working remotely for developers, builders and architects in the US and worldwide, and the people modeling your project have designed buildings themselves.