Prestige Group announces foray into virtual space of Metaverse

Real estate developer Prestige Group has partnered with PropVR, the 3D visualisation arm of Square Yards, for launching and 3D-modelling the upcoming luxury projects inside the virtual ecosystem of the metaverse.

Speaking on the sidelines of the August 9 event Digital Transformation in Real Estate organised by Square Yards in Bengaluru, Sunder Jagannathan, Co-founder of PropVR, confirmed the announcements to Moneycontrol, though he said the developments are at an early stage.

“A couple of projects that we are launching within the next one to three months, especially in the luxury segment, will be launched and modelled within the virtual reality ecosystem. We wanted to engage customers from a social perspective, being at the forefront of India’s real estate sector,” Vishesh Kaul, Chief Information and Digital Officer of Prestige Group, told Moneycontrol.

Post-Covid, he said, the company has come across several homebuyers who believe that real estate can be bought online. “And that’s why we have decided to invest in this technology, and we want to gradually make that shift from offline selling to online. We foresee that a significant portion of the company’s sales will move to this channel.”

Kaul said this technology will only be applicable for more premium projects, but the company is looking forward to rolling it out for more affordable projects as the technology gets cheaper.

“We are curious to know, after residential, how to shift to other segments. For example, people who are leasing from overseas. Can we give a buying experience for customers in our malls on Metaverse?” he added.

The classified section is a way of the past, the metaverse is the future

Speaking at the event, Jagannathan said that virtual reality has helped several non-resident Indian (NRI) homebuyers, and the company witnessed a 30-40 percent rise in sales after the introduction of the technology.

“Can we see the classified platforms or online listing websites slowly shifting towards the metaverse and virtual reality? Real estate is a spatial product, where homebuyers want to feel its space. The new technologies like blockchain-based metaverse and virtual reality hold the potential to sell real estate online,” he added.

However, Kaul believes that the major challenges are the cost and the gradual adaptability of the system.

For example, Tanuj Shori, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Square Yards, told Moneycontrol that though COVID helped in the foray of tech into real estate, several developers are still unsure about adopting the new technologies.

Dhruba Ghosh, Executive Vice President of Bengaluru-based Provident Group, said a major challenge comes from homebuyers adapting contemporary technologies. “While the younger generation adapts to the tech quickly, a majority of Indian homebuyers still prefer physical walkthroughs. However, Provident Housing will be bullish about adapting new technologies gradually,” he added.

Kaul agreed that deploying major technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence is still a challenge in real estate for ticket sizes of Rs 1 crore and below. “But let’s be aware that a lot of millennials and Gen Z homebuyers are getting into this segment who are probably already in the metaverse. We see early signs of that shift, and as it matures, the tech costs will definitely come down,” he added.