According to a report by Goldman Sachs, the VR and AR market in real estate is expected to reach $2.6 billion by 2025, with the XR market expected to grow even faster. This growth is being driven by a range of factors, including the increasing availability and affordability of VR and AR devices as well as the exploding demand for more immersive and interactive experiences - online and on site. The emergence of XR in PropTech has dramatically expanded the hiring scope at top commercial real estate firms, where executives are suddenly debating how to effectively scale new tech skills like digital twin engineers, AR designers, and VR developers.
Companies like Floored, Homestyler, and Giraffe360 are already way out in front with a big lead as the next wave of aspiring PropTech unicorns inspire a reticent field of traditional real estate firms to acquire talent from entirely unfamiliar fields: UX design, product management, generative AI, and AR just to list a handful. As younger generations bring their expectations to the marketplace and companies continue to attempt to lure employees back to the office with more carrots than sticks, the world of PropTech takes center stage. For instance, Resonai predicted that 90% of commercial property tours will be virtual by the end of this year.
In a recent consumer survey, 59 percent of respondents stated that they prefer to conduct at least one daily activity such as socializing, shopping, fitness, or education in the virtual world rather than in person. As shown by this year’s Augmented World Expo turnout, the $35B XR market is on a growth trajectory slated to hit $345 billion by 2030. As consumers become more accustomed to XR (extended reality) and its subsets – AR (augmented reality), MR (mixed reality), and VR (virtual reality), the room for growth among these emerging markets captured the eyes of investors and market prognosticators. In short, we’re at the beginning of a new XR frontier, and it's time to hire XR talent and teams.
