Zillow’s new app brings 3D home tours to the masses

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Zillow
One of the many house tours available in 3D Home.
Photo: Zillow

Prospective home buyers no longer have to waste time going to houses just to get a look at what its like on the inside.

Zillow debuted its new app this week called 3D Home which makes it easy to create a 3D tour of a property all from your iPhone. Virtual walkthrough tours have usually only been available on high-end homes, but now even the cheapest properties can get in on the action.

3D Home uses an iPhone camera to create a 3D layout of a house. The entire process only takes about 20 minutes to complete by following on-screen icons that guide users on when and where to snap photos. Once the entire home has been mapped, users upload the data to Zillow’s database which then stitches them together and uses computer vision models to balance exposures and select thumbnails for each room.

The end result is a 3D tour that makes properties more attractive to potential buyers.

“Making 3D home tours available for sellers and agents to capture and add to any listing, for free … is a huge milestone in our work to make the real estate transaction a more seamless, on-demand experience for consumers,” said Zillow’s director of product development, Josh Weisberg. “Previously, 3D tours were only found on high-end or expensive homes, due to the high cost and time-intensive capture process. Now, with 3D Home, adding an immersive experience to a home listing is fast, easy, and free, which benefits buyers and sellers at all price points.”

The 3D Home dashboard keeps track of all the processed tours that can then be edited, shared privately or added to a home listing. The company says listing with 3D tours attracted more buyers during the pilot program that listings without them. 3D tours are currently only available in the US and Canada. You can grab the new 3D Home app from the App Store starting today.

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