Virtual Yet Real Estate

 Using virtual and augmented reality, PHNX Digital is set to change property marketing in South Africa.

- Natalie Greve

It is a great irony of the property market that the purchase of a property or building, likely the largest capital outlay one will make in a lifetime, is frequently undertaken sight unseen.

Be it for reasons of geography, expediency or that the property is sold off-plan – that is before it is built and with only the plans available for inspection – to commit such a substantial sum to a plot of earth that one has yet to lay eyes on carries with it substantial risk.

It is this inherent risk that digital agency PHNX Digital hopes to avert with the development of a virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) property app for niche property company Harcourts Platinum.

PHNX Digital founder and MD Greg Jooste describes the app, which is the first of its kind to be developed in Africa for the property market, as a disruptive digital benchmark that is set to change property marketing in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent.

Bringing printed adverts to life using AR, the app allows users to take a virtual walk through a property using their smartphones. It also makes use of location mapping, which shows the building’s exact location, while drone photography is used to capture a clear image of the area from a high vantage point.