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The Diakrit tools were trialled on the listing of 32 Gurner St, St Kilda, which goes to auction on March 4.
NEW technology that helps househunters visualise themselves — and their stuff — in their dream home has hit the Melbourne market.
All online listings from one of Victoria’s largest real estate agencies, Hocking Stuart, will soon be equipped with tools that buyers can use to remodel the kitchens and move their furniture into the homes they’re looking at — long before they put down a deposit.
CLICK HERE TO TRY OUT THE NEW TOOLS
The “Kitchen Styling” and “Furnish” functions are the result of a new partnership between the agency and digital real estate business Diakrit, which News Corp, publisher of the Herald Sun, owns a majority shareholding in.
The actual kitchen at 32 Gurner St, St Kilda.Source:Supplied
A remodelled version of the St Kilda home’s kitchen using the Diakrit tools, which will soon be available on all Hocking Stuart listings.Source:Supplied
Hocking Stuart listings will also feature virtual panoramic tours that will make users feel like they’re standing inside the homes, and 3D floorplans.
The tools were launched on the listing of 32 Gurner St, St Kilda last month, and will be rolled out across all properties marketed by Hocking Stuart’s 50 offices over the next five months.
Buyers interested in the 1914 Edwardian home — which goes to auction on March 4 with $1.9 million-plus price expectations — can virtually trial different wall colours, cabinets, countertops, flooring and splashback designs in its kitchen.
They can also move furniture, which they can custom size to match their own, into its three living and dining areas, three bedrooms and outdoor areas on an online floorplan to make sure their things will fit.
Diakrit’s “Furnish” tool in use on the listing of 32 Gurner St.Source:Supplied
The listing notched more than 500 views on realestate.com.au within 24 hours of going live, with users spending an average of 20 minutes playing with the tools.
Gurner St’s seller Dorothy Farquhar, who is also hunting for a new home, said the tools allowed buyers to virtually make a property their own before committing to it.
“I know what I like in a house, but I find it hard to visualise it. I haven’t got a great imagination,” she said. “This gives you a way.”
Hocking Stuart, St Kilda, director Sam Inan said buyers could answer important questions including “what colour scheme will work? Where would I put my couch? Where would my bed go? Will that room fit a grand piano?” using the technology.
Mr Inan said the tools would also benefit buyers who lived too far away to regularly inspect houses, such as interstate buyers.
The new technology also allows househunters to take an accurate virtual tour of the homes they’re looking at.Source:Supplied
Hocking Stuart chief executive Simon Jovanovic said househunters already used sites like Instagram and Pinterest to research interior design schemes, and these tools allowed them to “visualise their dream home on the one platform”.
Diakrit co-founder Dick Karlsson said this type of technology was already being used across the world, but the Australian property market had been slow to take it up.
“Melburnians are property crazy, so it’s interesting that the industry has been slow to embrace technology that is already pervading in major real estate markets such as Sweden, Norway and the USA,” Mr Karlsson said.
Originally published as How househunters can try before they buy