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This isn’t just based on a small case study. The research draws from over 10 years of data and nearly 200,000 real estate transactions in Vancouver, making it one of the most comprehensive examinations of virtual tour effectiveness to date.

While the overall 1% pricing uplift may seem modest, this still translates to as much as 100,000 for every 1M yen. The findings also show that virtual tours have a measurable and consistent impact particularly when used in the right context.

• In competitive markets with many similar listings (like condos or townhouses), virtual tours helped listings stand out immediately and sell for more.
• For new or less experienced agents, virtual tours served as a trust-building tool, helping support agents lack of local expertise.
• In areas where many listings look alike (e.g. condos in a single development), virtual tours helped differentiate a unit from its neighbors. Furthemore, properties with virtual tours gained more attention when competing with "similar" or "matching" competitors when listed in search results / shortlists.

But virtual tours are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Their effectiveness depends on factors such as property type, market conditions, and how differentiated the home is. In fact, for highly unique listings, virtual tours can sometimes reduce curiosity, making the in-person visit even more critical.

In the sections that follow, we break down where virtual tours provide the most value, where they’re less impactful, and how sellers, agents, and property owners can make smart decisions when using this increasingly standard marketing tool.

Source: Table reproduced from Soleymanian & Qian (2024), NBER Working Paper No. 33204. "...support the claim that offering virtual tours can have a causal, positive effect on sales performance, leading to an increase in sales price of around 0.64%. In other words, for a property with an assessed value of 1 million dollars, offering a virtual tour could result in an average increase in sold price of approximately $6,400."

In Competitive or "Hot" Markets: Give Serious Buyers a Reason to Move Faster

In hot markets where listings move quickly and buyers are actively competing, virtual tours help shorten the decision cycle. According to the NBER study, listings with virtual tours in these conditions sold not only faster but for higher premiums compared to similar homes without them. When homes are getting sold quickly in the market, a virtual tour provides immediate access to critical property details, reducing delays and second-guessing.

Virtual tours helped buyers to move faster in these situations:

• Helping unsure buyers make a decision - When buyers face many similar options, virtual tours helped improve listing visibility, memorability, and differentiation which led to faster and higher-quality matches between the advertised property and its target buyer audience.
• Pushing sure buyers to action - Buyers who already liked the property thanks to the virtual tour (even before seeing it) know that other buyers will have access to the same virtual tour as well. Because the virtual tour provides immediate access to critical property details, buyers will have a higher sense of urgency to move to an in-person viewing or make an offer. Because the property is not "hidden" and is out in the open for everyone to see, they know that they must act quickly, otherwise other buyers could get it before them.

Agents with Less Experience Get A Boost

The research found that agents with fewer experience overall, achieved higher sales premiums (closer or above assessed value) when using virtual tours than similar agents who did not.

Virtual tours helped the listings stand out and made it top of mind regardless of the agent's personal track record. Buyers perceive the presence of the virtual tour as a signal of quality and transparency, helping to build trust with the real estate agent even before an in-person showing ever happens.

As a lot more people today were becoming tech-savy, seeing that the real estate agent invest in new technology to promote the property and make it more convenient for buyers to assess and explore gave a positive impression.

Look-Alike Listings - It's The One Buyers Remember

In markets with many similar properties like condo towers or standardized townhouse communities, virtual tours help listings stand out from the crowd. The research shows that when buyers see multiple nearly identical units, the one with a virtual tour feels more complete, trustworthy, and engaging. It sticks in their memory, and often ends up being the one they revisit.

Highly Unique or Differentiated Properties

For homes with very unique architectural designs, revealing too much through a virtual tour can sometimes reduce the sense of discovery. Houses which have artistic features and photogenic angles that translate well into 2D photos encourage curiosity from buyers that could be lost when a virtual tour is present. These homes often benefit more from in-person visits where emotional impact is higher.

In Extremely Hot Seller’s Markets

When demand is very high and properties are selling rapidly without much effort, sellers may not need to invest in additional marketing tools like virtual tours. In these cases, homes tend to sell regardless of media enhancements. The study found a decrease in virtual tour usage during these peak periods, suggesting sellers perceive it as unnecessary.

Novelty Wears Off Over Time

Initially, virtual tours were uncommon and signaled innovation. But over time, (especially after the COVID-19 pandemic), virtual tours became more mainstream. The perceived value of a tour decreases when buyers expect it by default, making the quality and execution of the virtual tour more important than ever.

Note that the study reference this for western markets like the US and Canada where virtual tours have become mainstream. For Japan however, we believe virtual tours are still not widely adopted, so real estate firms that leverage it will benefit from its novelty.

At SHIBUYA360° we are imaging experts first and we strive to understand the real estate market better so we can provide better services and support this important industry through our real estate photography and virtual tour production services.

While virtual tours are definitely a multiplying factor for real estate marketing, they are not a magic solution that will automatically provide success.

Just like any other tool, it is important to understand what are the benefits that virtual tours bring and when they can be put to the best use. This research is just one perspective that we hope you can use when thinking about your own unique situation.

We believe that there is much opportunity for the use of virtual tours here in Japan to differentiate your property and business from your competition. It is not yet widely adopted, so any property which has one will definitely make it stand out and be remembered.

One thing to remember is that the quality of the virtual tour produced must also be high. Even if a listing has a virtual tour, if the photography is low quality or the user interface is confusing / loads slowly, then it might not provide the intended positive benefits.

• If you are a real estate property owner, Airbnb host, minpaku owner, or real estate agent that is looking to stand out and promote your listing(s) using real estate photography or 360° virtual tours, please feel free to reach out to us for a free consultation. We would love to have the opportunity to support you and your business.

• If you are interested in a specific real estate property but don't have the time or opportunity to view it yourself (and are not able to obtain quality photos or want to have higher assurances on a property's situation), consider our real estate photography + virtual tour production service. We can focus on specific aspects you care about combining photography, video walkthrough and laser measuring to reconstruct floor plans / check whether the property meets your requirements.