Home Shoppers are Trending Toward Buying Sight-Unseen, Selling Virtually

Digital tools accelerated by COVID-19 shift attitudes toward the home buying and selling process

-- A new Zillow survey finds 36 percent of Americans would be more likely to try to buy a home entirely online during the current coronavirus outbreak; 43 percent would be more likely to try to sell a home entirely online.

-- In a departure from traditional practice, 1 out of 3 would prefer taking a virtual or video home tour instead of touring a home in person after the current coronavirus outbreak ends.

-- For shoppers who want to tour a home in person, virtual tours will allow them to winnow down their options and save time attending showings or open houses.

News provided by

Zillow

Jul 16, 2020, 08:00 ET

SEATTLE, July 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Home buyers and sellers say they are more likely to make the purchase or sale of their biggest financial asset entirely online.

Digital tools widely adopted during the coronavirus pandemic are giving people the ability and the confidence to buy or sell a home in a tight real estate market where homes are selling at their fastest pace in two years. A new Zillow® survey finds consumer demand will likely keep those tools in place and lead to more online real estate transactions in the future.

Zillow's survey¹ finds more than a third of Americans (36%) say they are more likely to try to buy a home entirely online during the coronavirus pandemic, and 30 percent say after the current outbreak ends, they would do the same.

Even more Americans appear to be getting comfortable with the idea of selling a home virtually. During the pandemic, 43 percent say they are more likely to try to sell a home entirely online. When the current outbreak ends, 33 percent anticipate they would still be more likely to try and sell a home entirely online.

A majority of people still want to tour a home in person before committing their down payment. However, when asked to choose between taking an in-person or a virtual tour after the current outbreak has ended, one out of three say they would choose the virtual or video tour -- a meaningful departure from traditional shopping behavior.

"The home shopping tradition of loading the family into the minivan and touring open houses all weekend may be over," said Zillow economist Jeff Tucker. "Now shoppers are realizing they can use virtual tours to either skip in-person shopping, or at least to winnow down their options and visit fewer homes in person, making it easier and less time-consuming to find their next home. That speed advantage can give buyers a leg up in today's fast-moving market. "

In a survey of select Zillow Premier Agents², 64 percent report fewer in-person showings at least most of the time during the current coronavirus outbreak, and nearly a third (31%) anticipate that trend will continue after the outbreak is over.

Virtual and video tours are becoming the new standard. The creation of Zillow 3D Home virtual tours skyrocketed when stay-home orders went into effect, climbing more than 750 percent in one month and remaining at least three times as high in the months that followed. Of the surveyed³Zillow Premier Agents, 86 percent said they started or continued to use virtual or video home tours during the coronavirus outbreak, and 72 percent said they are likely to continue providing those tours after the current outbreak has ended. A Zillow survey⁴finds three out of four U.S. adults want the option to tour a home remotely through virtual or video technology if they were home shopping right now.

Home sellers also have high-tech options that allow them to sell almost entirely online. Homeowners in certain markets can request a cash offer with the click of a button from Zillow Offers. They can avoid the parade of strangers traipsing through their home during open houses or showings, and can opt for an all-digital closing.

Renters can search, find, apply for and lease a home digitally in a safer, end-to-end online transaction. Zillow Rental Manager is a one-stop rental transaction platform that handles tenant screening, lease signing and monthly payments online.

The Schwartz family went under contract to buy a home sight-unseen in the Nashville suburbs after COVID-19 prompted them to move their family out of New York City for more space.

"We didn't feel safe getting on a plane so having these digital tools on Zillow allowed us to narrow down our search and find the right home for us and our 8-year-old son," said Jarrod Schwartz, a sales manager. "After our real estate agent provided a video tour, we had the confidence to make an offer."

Nashville-based Zillow Premier Agent Erin Krueger said her team has sold 10 homes sight-unseen during three months of shelter-at-home orders, twice as many as in all of 2019.

"People are realizing they can make some very big purchases from afar," said Krueger, with the Erin Krueger Team at Compass. "Now we're equipped with the systems and processes to serve our clients virtually when they can't be there in person, and that's absolutely been accelerated by the pandemic. Our clients are very happy with their new homes."

About Zillow

Zillow, the top real estate website in the U.S., is building an on-demand real estate experience. Whether selling, buying, renting or financing, customers can turn to Zillow's businesses to find and get into their next home with speed, certainty and ease.

In addition to for-sale and rental listings, Zillow Offers buys and sells homes directly in dozens of markets across the country, allowing sellers control over their timeline. Zillow Home Loans, our affiliate lender, provides our customers with an easy option to get pre-approved and secure financing for their next home purchase.

Millions of people visit Zillow Group sites every month to start their home search, and now they can rely on Zillow to help them finish it — with the same confidence, ease and empowerment they've come to expect from real estate's most trusted brand.

Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG) and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow and Zillow Offers are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

¹ Data was collected by ZillowGroup Population Science from a survey of 2,600 U.S. adults recruited and interviewed between May 11th, 2020 and May 15th, 2020. Respondents were recruited from multiple general population internet respondent panels of U.S. adults from the contiguous United States. To promote the representativeness of the estimates, the sample data was weighted to align with key U.S. Census demographic benchmarks observed in the target population.

² These results reflect the responses provided by a random sample drawn from Zillow Group's Premier Agent Research Panel. While selection from the existing panel was random, membership in the panel is optional, and limited to current and former Zillow Agents. These results may not accurately reflect the entire population of Zillow agents nor real estate professionals as a whole.

³ These results reflect the responses provided by a random sample drawn from Zillow Group's Premier Agent Research Panel. While selection from the existing panel was random, membership in the panel is optional, and limited to current and former Zillow Agents. These results may not accurately reflect the entire population of Zillow agents nor real estate professionals as a whole.

⁴ See footnote 1

SOURCE Zillow