The Impact of Using a Matterport 3D Tour for Single-Family Rentals

The PlanOlabs team partnered with a client who is a leading provider of well-kept single-family rental homes nationwide, to measure the impact of using a Matterport 3D Tour for rental property marketing.

Challenge

Our client had two main challenges to address in this study:

1. First, they needed to determine if there would be an ROI if they invested in 3D Tours on all properties nationwide. The ROI would be measured in lead generation, self-showing tour activity, website views, and days on market.
2. Second, they wanted to pilot the operations and technology needed to roll out 3D. Could PlanOmatic perform the 3D service in their markets? Could the IT team accept the 3D Tour and include it in the feed to their website and to Zillow?

Solution

The data showed that using a Matterport 3D Tour to market a property online has a significantly positive impact on leasing activity. Additionally, we confirmed that the operations and technology needed for a nationwide roll out are ready to go.

Details

ROI

The data showed a positive impact on leasing activity, specifically:

• Zillow Leads per day per property increased by 18% when a Matterport Tour was used to market the property in Charlotte, NC, compared with properties that only had photos
• Website page views per day per property increased by 66% in Charlotte, NC, and increased 58% in Dallas, TX when a Matterport Tour was used to market the property, compared with properties that only had photos
• Days On Market decreased by 25% in Charlotte, NC, and decreased by 9% in Dallas, TX when a Matterport Tour was used to market the property, compared with properties that only had photos.

Operations & Technology

The PlanOmatic team was able to perform the 3D service in all markets for the client while keeping a consistent turnaround time and meeting the standard SLA expectations.

The IT team was able to retrieve the 3D Tour URL, embed it into their website, and also include it in the feed to the Zillow Group Rentals Platform. We confirmed that the 3D Tour was visible on the following websites:

• Client’s website
• Zillow
• Trulia
• HotPads

3D Tour Concentration

One additional finding from the study is that 3D Tours are gaining traction in the single-family rental marketing space. In 2021, in Maricopa County (Phoenix, AZ), 3% of all available single-family rental homes used a 3D Tour to market. In 2022, that number has more than doubled to 8%.

Here is the current 3D Tour concentration of each market in the study:

• San Antonio, TX: 15% 
• Charlotte, NC: 12%
• Phoenix, AZ: 8%
• Dallas, TX: 6%

These percentages are of all available SFR rentals that have a 3D Tour.

Method

We tracked 233 properties across four markets: Charlotte, NC, Dallas, TX, Phoenix, AZ, and San Antonio, TX.  To do that we created a test group in each market by adding a Matterport 3D Tour on approximately half the properties in each market, and compared that to a control group (the other half) that received the normal marketing services from Sparrow’s existing solution. We created this test group and tracked the properties from January 10, 2022, to March 23, 2022.