Every listing should have a virtual tour within three...

The man behind a PropTech supplier of virtual tours says he wants to get every listing in the UK’s lettings and sales market to have a virtual tour by 2024.

Made Snappy founder Mark McCorrie says he has the aim because agents can now create their own virtual tour for less than £2 per tour per month.

However, McCorrie has set himself quite a challenge - earlier this month another virtual tour suppliers, U-See Homes, admitted that just four per cent of properties listed on Rightmove and Zoopla carried virtual viewings.

It had analysed properties on sale in various cities and found that even in the ‘best’ location, only 17 per cent of homes listed on the two leading portals had virtual options. Most had just between two and five per cent.

However, Made Snappy’s McCorrie says his own experience of managing 140 tenants in the Midlands while a letting agent, has convinced him of the need for technology that was both easy to use and cost effective for the industry.

McCorrie claims 95 per cent of his firm’s clients continue to use the service even as Coronavirus and viewing restrictions ease.

Separate research by U-See Homes suggests that virtual tours can increase the asking rents of properties listed.

It claims that across the UK, the average monthly rent currently sits at £997 but homes with virtual tours apparently add £85 to their monthly rental income.

In London - the most expensive rental market of course - the average monthly rent is £1,583 but for properties with virtual tours the average is an additional £135.

And in the North East, the UK’s most affordable lettings market, virtual tours could add as much as £48 to the average monthly rental income of £560 the firm claims.