Porter Davis sees new home sales through VR goggles

Technology could be the key to getting more people interested in building a new home.

Porter Davis chief Adrian Hondros. Picture: Dan Himbrechts

Technology could be the key to getting more people interested in building a new home rather than buying an established ­property.

New homes account for just 10 per cent of house sales in Australia, but home builder Porter Davis wants to expand that ­figure.

Chief executive Adrian Hondros said the company was using virtual reality goggles and augmented reality apps to reach a market that was uninterested in display homes.

“Our industry has typically been set up to have a sales consultant in a display home to talk and engage with people when they visit the display,” Mr Hondros said.

“But not everyone is necessarily going to want to do that, and we’ve seen in the last 10-15 years things we never thought we could do online in the comfort of our own home.”

Virtual reality goggles are now available in Porter Davis display homes, along with phone and tablet apps to give potential home buyers a “3D experience” away from the sites.

The technology allows people to explore the inside of a home or take off the roof, and make decisions regarding the floor plan and other design factors.

Mr Hondros said by giving “young, tech-savvy people” more options for considering a newly built home, they could expand the market.

“We think displays are very much a part of the way forward but the world is changing and we need to look at different ways of doing things,” Mr Hondros said.

“I’m sure some people would prefer the comfort of their own home, at their dining table or on the couch, just to explore the ­opportunities and get a real feel (for a newly built home).”

The “early signs” from the first few weeks of using the ­virtual reality technology had reinforced the feeling it could bring more people into the market, he said.

“First-home buyers are typically tech-savvy and living through the use of their devices and my view is that the Australian residential construction industry has some room to move in terms of making this technology available,” he said.

The other big challenge facing home builders remained price — with affordability being squeezed by rising labour costs and the cost of materials.

Mr Hondros said that was unlikely to improve in the short to medium term, due to the huge amount of infrastructure development in the pipeline.

“Those infrastructure projects are definitely needed but they do put further pressure on both labour and materials,” he said.

“It’s one of the key functions of government to do that (infrastructure work) but at the same time it’s an economic reality that will see costs continue to rise.”