According to NAR, although older generations prefer using desktops in their home hunt, Millennials spend 65% of their search on mobile. A real estate mobile app can make or break businesses as Millennials and Gen Z shares among homebuyers increase. 

 

Besides, there are 5 billion unique mobile users globally and 316 million smartphone users in the US alone. At the same time, 76% of homebuyers use mobile devices or tablets in their home search. To capitalize on these trends, we have helped several real estate firms establish an online presence and develop mobile apps to broaden their reach and boost customer retention rates. Our portfolio includes property and amenity management platforms, as well as visualization solutions. 

 

Today, we will look at what mobile app development can do for your real estate business and discuss how to build a real estate app. With our help, you’ll discover the types of real estate apps, their essential features, and the major steps of real estate app development.

 

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Contents

Real Estate App Development Market Overview

According to FMI estimates, the Proptech market should exceed $38 billion in 2024. Within the decade, it’s expected to reach $170 billion, growing at a value-based CAGR of 16.1%.

Considering these estimates, the investors are ready to pour funds into new Proptech solutions. Despite the dip in investments between 2022 and 2023, the fourth quarter of 2023 saw a renewed interest. According to the CRETI 2023 report, the Proptech venture capital equity investment went from under $2 billion in Q1’23 to over $4 billion in Q4’23, and the trend will likely continue to hold. 

Although some investors seek low-risk projects, others are happy to embrace new opportunities awarded by disruptive technologies, like virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), or blockchain. 

What to Know About Real Estate App Development: Essential Steps and Features

Why You Should Invest in Real Estate Mobile App Development

If the rejuvenated investor interest in Proptech isn’t enough to convince you to consider real estate application development, let’s review its benefits to your business. With the best real estate app, you can:

  • Reach a broader audience. Although 97% of homebuyers use the internet to find homes, younger generations tend to be more mobile-friendly. In particular, Millennials use mobile devices almost twice as often as the Silent Generation.
  • Streamline operations. Over 80% of real estate firms rely heavily on digital tools in their daily processes. The most convenient tools include eSignature, market analysis, and electronic contracts, all saving time and improving productivity.
  • Target marketing campaigns. Social media remains the top lead-generating tool for real estate agents (52%), followed by customer relationship management solutions (CRM). Integrating a mobile app into the sales funnel can help increase the ROI of targeted social media ads.
  • Improve brand image. Surveys show that up to 30% of the brand image may depend on the business’s mobile app and performance. If the trend persists, mobile apps can have the same, if not more powerful, impact on brand recognition and reputation than websites and social media presence. 
  • Generate new revenue streams. Proptech apps can use different business models, but even the most straightforward options can generate significant revenue. For instance, Zillow, the largest real estate app in the US that relies on the blanket referral fee business model, provided $1.9 billion in revenue in 2023.

Benefits of Real Estate Mobile App Development for All Parties Involved 

Understanding and addressing the market needs is key for successful real estate mobile app development. Let’s highlight the benefits of a mobile app for the three major target audiences: home buyers, home sellers, and real estate businesses. 

Benefits for

Real estate agents

Buyers

Sellers

Routine task automation

Convenient listings search

Fast and convenient property listing

Rise in market share

Handy tools for visualization and comparison

Broader reach and faster sales

New revenue streams

Better communication with the seller and real estate agent

Instant communication with the buyer and real estate agent

Increased client retention

Instant access to professional support

Simplified property management

Boost to brand awareness

One app for all buyer needs

One app for all seller needs

These are a few major benefits for home buyers, sellers, and real estate agents. Note that the advantages will differ depending on the type of real estate app you develop, its target audience, and the feature set. 

Types of Real Estate Mobile Apps You Can Develop 

By stepping on the real estate mobile application development path, you should already have a vision of your future product, including its type, purpose and functions. And thanks to the variety of those on the market, everyone can choose one to their liking.

What to Know About Real Estate App Development: Essential Steps and Features

Agency App

Now that we know its importance, it’s apparent when a real estate company wants an additional upgrade to their website – a mobile app. New and regular customers can get to know the company through a sophisticated application. They also consist of easy communication tools, a pleasant interface and various features of property management software that satisfy every user’s needs.

On the other hand, the company can have another method of managing its position in the market: whether people use the app, how frequently they do it and what is lacking to increase engagement.

Aggregator Model

In this case, your application serves as a peculiar real estate marketplace – a mediator between agents, sellers, renters and buyers. All of them can register on the app and have specific accounts with different features. Users aiming to sell the property can upload all the needed information about it. They might add photos, location and price, on the platform. Users who want to buy it can discover the whole list of various items.

Thanks to Big Data, the app may suggest other options based on users’ previous preferences and views. People can communicate with each other and find their dream houses or dream customers. This type of mobile app development for real estate can be a genuinely profitable and successful investment for its developer.

Listings and Property Search App

According to NAR, 79% of real estate firms use multiple listing services (MLS). They are convenient tools to help sellers list their properties and help buyers find the right homes. Aside from the visuals, the MLS should have flexible search filters and comparison functionality. Integrating mobile-first features (camera + AR for visualization) can give you a competitive edge. 

Homeownership and Rental Apps

As Airbnb and multiple other apps prove, there’s a market for rental apps. They make lives easier for landlords, homeowners, and renters. Aside from the search and visualization functionality, rental apps can also include invoicing and rent payment features, as well as messaging and issue resolution tools.

Investment Apps

The best apps for commercial real estate and investment properties (RealtyMogul or YieldStreet) help find and compare the properties potential. Such apps require advanced analytical tools to consider multiple factors affecting the return on investment (ROI), including location, infrastructure, surrounding businesses, foot traffic, etc. 

Market Analysis Apps

Real estate market analysis apps can benefit realtors, home buyers, home sellers, landlords, and investors alike. Integrated data analytics can provide insights into property valuation, investment potential, pricing trends, and other parameters. 

Top Features to Include Into Your Real Estate App

Once we have decided on our application type, we can continue the real estate app development journey. The next challenge is to choose vital features that would enrich the product and make it stand out from the other mobile applications. We picked up the list of essential and advanced real estate mobile app development features that deserve your attention.

Essential features

If you’re working on an agency or a property listing and search app, these features are must-haves:

  • Property search is the first tool home buyers will use after registration, so UI/UX design is critical. It should be intuitive, fast, and flexible. For example, selecting a point on the map would be more convenient than typing a location. 
  • Proposition listing is a must-have feature in real estate apps since it provides all the information about your app offerings. You can use an MLS or create your own. The key here is to develop a validation process if you plan to allow users to upload their properties.
  • Property details must provide a complete overview of the house or apartment, including high-quality photos and videos, price, location, neighborhood details, and owner’s contact information.
  • The map enables users to examine their potential purchase’s neighborhood and get data about its surroundings, facilities, infrastructure, transportation, etc.
  • Favorites folder helps home buyers keep track of potential purchases and set up comparisons. At the same time, sellers can see the number of bookmarks to gauge the overall interest in their offers. 
  • Contact information should enable users to call, chat, or email using built-in mobile device functionality. It’s one of the critical tools for generating leads, so it deserves extra care when you build a real estate app.

Advanced features

To give a real estate mobile app a competitive edge, you can integrate emerging technologies that will shape the Proptech landscape in the coming years. Here are a few ideas or an advanced toolset:

    • Virtual tours and 3D models enable home buyers to better understand the property before visiting it in person. Virtual tours can be a competitive advantage, even if filming and setting them up requires technical skill and additional resources.
    • Property value calculators let sellers calculate the approximate value of their property to set the right price considering different factors. At the same time, buyers can use the feature to estimate the bottom lines, including the initial payment, mortgage cost, taxes, and interest.
    • Neighborhood information can augment the GIS functionality and provide additional details about the property’s location. Home buyers could be interested in the distance to the closest malls, hospitals, and schools, while commercial real estate investors would value info on foot traffic and neighboring businesses.
    • AI-powered recommendations can analyze home buyers’ preferences and activity and narrow down the search to the few properties most likely to fit their needs. 
    • Integration with smart home devices is great for property management apps, as it allows users to track energy consumption and use other resources to make buildings more efficient. 
  • Blockchain integration is better suited to real estate agency apps, as it enables smart contracts and secure transactions, facilitating property purchases. 

 

Feature

Complexity

Approximate development time (estimated in hours) 

Property search

Medium

100-150 

Listing of propositions

Low

50-80

Property details

Medium

90-120

Map

Medium

90-120

Favorites folder

Low

40-80

Contact information

Low

40-80

Virtual tours and 3D models

High

150-200

Property value calculators

Medium 

90-120

Neighborhood information

Medium

90-120

AI-powered recommendations

High

150-200

Integrations with smart home devices

High

90-180

Blockchain integration

High

180-240

 

What to Know About Real Estate App Development: Essential Steps and Features

8  Steps for Developing a Real Estate Application

Step #1: Analyze the Market Need

Ask yourself: Why do you need to build a real estate app? What value will the app bring to users and your business? Study the market and your competitors: look at their social media, app features, and customer feedback. Next, choose what the plan is precisely. Do you want to create a mobile version of your real estate firm or hotel website? Or, maybe, a good-old rental app or develop a platform for freelance agents to expand their network?

Don’t forget to make sure your proposition is unique. Furthermore, build something that would make the application stand out among the others, not another alternative to something already existing. Maybe, the advanced features that your competitors lack or some highlights that people will only associate with your app. This research and analysis will determine the type of your app (native, cross-platform), the feature set, and the monetization strategy. 

Step #2: Find Your Team

When it comes to custom mobile apps development it’s crucial to efficiently implement all the special features you planned. Plus, who can help, if it is not the group of professionals acquainted with the real estate technology industry? With the right team, like Inoxoft, there’s no need to worry about the final product’s quality and success. Together, we’ll decide on the UI/UX design of the app and implement all your ideas into code. 

Get in touch with us to schedule a consultation and learn more about the tech stack, budget, and time necessary to build your real estate app.

Step #3: Create Design and Prototypes

Before choosing the color palette and designing buttons and icons, get a UX designer to develop user flow charts to ensure the navigation is intuitive and streamlined. Simple designs without unnecessary bells and whistles are user favorites these days, so focus on delivering the best experience on all screen sizes, familiar and understandable swiping gestures, and minimizing the number of taps from signup to desired user outcome. 

Ideally, you should get wireframes and prototypes for testing before the final product is complete so that you can make any necessary changes before launching an app on Google Play or the App Store.

Step #4: Build an MVP

We won’t get tired of repeating the essentiality of MVP development while launching a brand-new product. It’s a terrific method to see the target audience’s reaction to the application and get their feedback and proposition. Hence, a minimum viable product will help you save time, and money and prevent the development of bound to fail real estate apps.

Step #5: Develop the App

The best real estate apps for buyers, sellers, and investors alike combine complex features like visualization, geolocation, messaging, and more. As a result, the development process can take a few months and requires expertise in native or cross-platform development. The most common solutions used in Proptech development include React Native and Flutter. 

Although your development team will suggest the best technology stack, it will likely include Java, JavaScript, or Swift, Node.js or Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. The essential and advanced features we’ve discussed will require third-party integrations. For example, you’ll need Google Maps API or its alternative for geolocation. 

Step #6: Complete Quality Assurance

Testing is critical at every step of the real estate app development process but especially crucial at the final stages, before the launch. Your QA team should conduct manual and automatic testing to uncover potential errors, bugs, and failures. The development team’s job is to debug the app and make it run as smoothly as possible before users get their hands on it. Proper documentation of the QA operations is vital for future updates.

Step #7: Consider Monetization

Making money from the application is a great benefit for its creators. In fact, there’s a wide range of monetization methods for different real estate apps. For instance, people (tenants, buyers or sellers) might pay commission fees for using the platform, see advertisements for real estate agents, lenders, interior designers, furniture stores, etc., and buy special subscriptions for more advanced features.

Step #8: Launch Your Solution on App Stores

When your app is ready for the public, start with a soft launch with a limited number of early adopters to test its toolset and identify unforeseen issues. From there, you can try app store optimization (ASO) and a social media ad campaign to get your application noticed by more users. Visual elements, including screenshots and videos, are critical for making your app visible, as are keywords within the app’s title and description. Positive user feedback will also drive up the downloads, but you need to build in the review functionality to encourage customers to express their opinions.

Our Experience in Real Estate App Development 

We completed over 200 projects, including several successful cases in Real Estate. Our solutions range from a real estate CRM to property management software for homeowner associations and even AI-based real estate platforms with automatic valuation tools and predictive analytics modules.

Our team can guide you through every step of building a successful real estate app. Whether you need a solution developed from scratch, with us taking on all the risks, or want us to join your team to bring our expertise and enhance the functionality, we’ve got you covered.

Need help? Just share more details about your project with us.

How We Improved Luxury Living for Premier US Brands

One great example of our expertise in real estate is the development of a custom cross-platform amenity management solution for a high-end luxury lifestyle brand based in the US. Our mobile app allows residents to easily book concierge services and access a variety of on-demand and live video content, like cooking classes and workout tutorials. With just a few taps, residents can view and book upcoming events and pay using a credit card, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

To complement the resident-facing app, we also developed a web platform for building owners and managers. This amenity management portal features role-based access, enabling content creators and building managers to set up events, manage pricing, track orders, and more.

Our team of ten took 12 months to complete both the mobile app and the web platform, from initial discovery to launch. We utilized technologies like Flutter, Django, ReactJS, AWS, and Celery to ensure the project met our client’s business objectives.

Final Thoughts

Mobile applications revolutionized how people search for, buy, sell, or rent properties. Seeing as Proptech investment and market valuation are once again on the rise after the post-pandemic slump, and mobile apps have become essential in meeting evolving consumer needs, it’s high time to consider developing a real estate application. Regardless of the type of real estate app you wish to develop, any project begins with market analysis and choosing the right team. Before starting full-scale development, think of the UX design and focus on an MVP, and when your app is ready, don’t skip the pre-launch quality assessment.

If the project’s scope seems overwhelming, we are here to help you every step of the way. Our experts will analyze the Proptech landscape, develop an MVP, and design a smooth user experience for an MLS, a property an amenity management app, or a real estate investment solution. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average development time for a real estate app?

The average development time for a real estate app ranges from three to twelve months. The time frame depends on the type of Proptech app you want to build and its feature set, technology stack, and development team size. For example, a simple app for listing and searching for residential properties with basic tools could take four months. If you want to create an iOS or Android real estate app for investors, complete with advanced market analytics and AI-powered price predictions, you’ll need at least six to eight months. Note that these estimates do not include the discovery stage (market analysis, target audience needs elicitation, etc.), which can add another two to four weeks to the timeline.

What is the best business model for a real estate app?

The best business model for a real estate app depends on the type of app you develop and how it fits into your business. For example, if you run a real estate company, your solution can generate extra revenue through increased visibility and additional leads. Amenity management applications can generate income through transaction fees or commissions. At the same time, investment real estate apps would benefit from a monthly membership business model or service fees. You can compare several business models, estimate their ROI, and choose the one that offers the biggest earnings in the shortest time.

How can I attract users to my real estate app?

You can attract users to your real estate app by improving its Google Play and App Store ranking. To make the most of the app store optimization, use keywords in the app title and description and be generous with screenshots, videos, presentations, and other visuals. Positive reviews are also critical, so encourage your first users to leave positive feedback.

Promoting your real estate app on other platforms will also attract users. Add download links to your website and social media profiles. If that doesn’t help much, consider a targeted ad campaign on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

How can I measure the success of my real estate app?

You can measure the success of your real estate app by establishing metrics that align with your business goals. For example, if you want an app for real estate agents to increase sales, track the differences before and after the app launch. Divide the added profit by the app development cost, and you’ll get your ROI. The calculations are even easier if you choose a subscription or membership business model.

At the same time, some metrics are hard to measure, though they can also signify the app’s success. For instance, brand visibility and client retention can bring extra revenue in the long run, even if you don’t see a direct impact on your income. 

What legal and regulatory considerations should I be aware of for a real estate app?

The primary legal and regulatory considerations regarding most real estate apps focus on privacy and data protection. Your app will likely collect and store personal details, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, etc. So, your app should follow the applicable local and international privacy protection regulations. These may include GDPR for businesses operating in the EU or the Privacy Act if you’re in the US. Note that individual countries or states can have additional regulations. For instance, the California Privacy Rights Act or Virginia's Consumer Data Protection Act hold specific stipulations concerning businesses that serve customers from these states.