Teching the Boxes for Young Homebuyers
Young people like technology.
In other news, the sea is wet.
No, it’s not exactly a revelation but it still seemed to take a pandemic for many developers and auctioneers to realise it.
As reported by Estate Agent Today, Jeremy Prior, Managing Director of Auction House – the UK’s biggest property auctioneer, has explained the success of livestream sales during the pandemic, especially amongst younger buyers, with a 10% increase in engagement from 18-24 year olds and a 5% increase in 25-34 year olds. Meanwhile, engagement amongst 65+ year olds remained the same.
Prior is aware that a return to room only auctions may alienate the younger demographic, and is therefore giving due consideration as to how to move forward.
As well as increasing engagement with younger buyers, the online strategy also widened their reach internationally, with buyers based in Hong Kong, USA and Greece – something Prior attributes to video tours: “The power of video tours has been phenomenal, with many of our buyers bidding on the strength of the video alone.”
Prior also notes that many bidders previously had family members accompany them to auction rooms – something they may be hesitant to do now, while COVID-19 still poses a risk. This could be especially true of young first-time buyers, who are likely to seek advice from more experienced family members, before buying a home.
Virtual reality and video home tours are something we have provided for a number of years, even preceding the pandemic, as we believed the power of video would help developers market to a new generation of buyers, as well as increase international investment. This has proven prophetic and is just one of a number of PropTech solutions we offer, including pre-configured tablets and iPads, and our award-winning portal, Spaciable, that help developers stand out as progressive and appealing to an increasingly tech-savvy and tech-dependent generation.
To find out what you should be doing to keep up with the competition and make sure you’re doing all you can to target young buyers, book a call-back, here.
