Virtual Reality in CRE: a Granular Visualization of Properties

Visualizing a warehouse or a multi-storey shopping mall from a few renderings and floor plans to work out whether the building will make money is a fairly complicated process. And yet that’s what CRE investors have to deal with routinely, together with visiting a large number of sites.

To make the right choice, investors need to study a lot of technical documentation, material samples, architectural drawings, etc. Still they struggle with developing a precise vision of how that office block or warehouse will look like and function — an understandable challenge for a non-specialist in architecture and design.

For commercial brokers, even more challenges arise when they try to provide their clients with a good property walkthrough:

• overwhelmingly, only a static overview can be provided which is very limited;
• investors spend a disproportionate amount of time visiting sites and studying documentation;
• even with complete documentation and/or renovation plans, investors struggle to understand what the property will look like and how it will work once put into use.

How will blockchain address these issues?

Virtual reality is redefining this experience in ways that one couldn’t imagine a few years ago.

Most importantly, VR-enhanced broker listings published will allow investors to step inside the building, view its surroundings and get a whole new perspective without weeks of research.

For example, they will be able to evaluate how functional the building is from the point of view of a visitor/potential customer, office personnel, etc.

And these are not the only benefits of VR for the CRE industry that inspired us to put this list together:

• With VR walkthroughs, it will be easy to picture the full potential of a building as opposed to how it looks at the moment. This is particularly important for branded shops, restaurants, storefronts, etc.
• VR will help brokers engage with a whole new segment of international buyers.
• VR will accelerate the deal cycle and help investors make better decisions.
• While traditional renderings provide a static angle, VR empowers investors to tour the entire building. It is also possible to compare different design solutions as VR walkthroughs are very interactive.
• An accurate, high-quality VR walkthrough will enable investors to filter out ill-suited buildings and locations from their portfolios and focus on the most promising ones, then visit the sites personally, if need be