Open house days may be numbered as luxury home buyers snoop around their next home from the comfort of their couch.
Real estate agents selling multi-million dollar homes have embraced the TikTok tour trend, giving viewers a peek at everything from mega mansions to penthouse suites. But the videos aren’t just eye candy, they’re attracting sales and hooking the next generation of shoppers.
It comes amid a slowdown in the US housing market. For 2023, Wells Fargo expects new home sales (-6.5%), existing home sales (-13.1%) and single-family home starts (-12%) to decline, as well as a 5.5% decline in the United States house prices. By December 2022, applications for mortgage purchases were down over 40% year over year.
But search #property on TikTok and you’ll be one of the three billion viewers who looked up the content. The power of the tour is even greater with #housetour with 10.1 billion views, #realestate with 21.6 billion and #luxuryhomes with 3.3 billion.
Both an appetite for escapism and aspiration are driving the trend, said Andres Rivadeneira, a Toronto-based agent who has racked up more than a million likes for his real estate content. When he first started posting videos in 2021, he “never” could have imagined the impact it would have on his business – both in generating interest in properties and sourcing new inventory.
He explained: “I had a video that went viral but it was for an apartment that had already been sold – you can’t pinpoint when things really kick off. It was bought by someone who hadn’t seen the property through TikTok but I still got so many messages about it. I was walking when a couple approached me who recognized me from TikTok and introduced themselves as buyers. I told them how much interest I had left and they said if I could get them a good offer they would be open to a sale.
“So I thought, ‘Game on’. One of the buyers via TikTok made them an offer and they made a profit of $30,000 in less than 30 days. The original buyers didn’t even move in, they just owned.”
Rivadeneira added that thanks to TikTok’s global reach, awareness is not only driven by likes, views, comments and shares, but also by producing content that people are “curious” enough to want to see.
“Viewings of luxury properties are interesting for people, either because they want to look through the windows of a property virtually or because they are in the minority who might buy it. I get a lot of calls about my properties from people who live in high-end markets like London, New York or Australia. The content around: ‘So much you can get for your money here vs. there’ is really interesting for people and that creates a lot of exposure,” he added.
First time buyers bite
Freya Melling is the associate of UK-based agent Fine and Country, based in Park Lane. She said just because the platform’s demographic is younger doesn’t mean they don’t have money to splash out: “I’ve had some serious real estate offers that people have seen through TikTok. We had some people in their mid-20s interested in apartments costing around the £2million mark and they first came across the property on TikTok.”
She added that larger estates that generate interest through TikTok tend to do so when kids have shown the videos to their parents — or the content has been shared on other sites like Facebook.
But the strategy behind launching the new platform isn’t just focused on short-term gains as brands seek to establish themselves with younger audiences. Melling explained that TikTok has an “emerging feel” that the next generation of buyers and sellers should hopefully associate with the brand. She added that TikTok has a more global reach, while sites like Facebook are more local.
Facebook is still the strongest site for driving real estate traffic, the experts said, followed by Instagram, then TikTok, then LinkedIn.
But just because the short-form video app isn’t a leader yet doesn’t mean agents should fall behind, warned Greg Shoulder, digital marketing manager at UK property agency Parkers.
Analysis of Parkers’ content shows it reaches across Europe and Asia, while also expanding the company’s reach into the rental, investment and residential buyer markets.
“In the luxury market, it definitely opens up more conversations because people are looking for specific hashtags or topics,” Shoulder said. “The short form gives people a peek through the window at what could be their next home, and also has that ambitious ‘How the Other Half Lives’ quality.”
How do you make TikTok real estate videos go viral?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing when it comes to the world of content creation. The reason a video explodes is often clear after it’s been viewed millions of times, said Canadian real estate agent Miranda Caldwell; However, if you’re trying to make a viral video, you’re less likely to do so.
The sales rep says her style is much more “indirect” than trying to sell the property as she uses the platform more for her own research and personal brand.
Caldwell explained that she’s incredibly picky about the homes she tours, even turning down real estate inquiries if she feels it doesn’t align with what her viewers are reaching out to her for.
“For me, my platform is mostly about research because I’m so interested in design and what people respond to,” she says.
“What’s interesting is that in the luxury market and with a lot of people worrying about a recession, the videos I see doing really well in terms of engagement are the more ‘humble’ properties. Instead of the flashy, people like homes where you can see the human element as opposed to the homes that people say feel like doctors’ offices.
“I always prioritize the homes that have more charm and history, and I find it’s the interactions from videos that don’t go viral that are really worth it. For example, clients and other luxury brokers I’ve met through TikTok tend to connect by commenting on videos that didn’t get as much response.”
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