Realestate.com.au takes on renovation market with AI tool

REA Group executive general manager of consumer product Jonathan Swift.

Realestate.com.au wants to be the first platform homeowners think of when they’re renovating their property, and has introduced artificial intelligence-powered tools to attract more people to the platform.

The real estate giant now lets property owners use AI to digitally renovate their homes by altering images of their dwellings. It allows them to test changes by altering colour of walls and kitchen benchtops, for example.

The new tools form part of a larger vision from the company in which the platform will be able to provide updated valuations based on the digital renovations, and in turn make realestate.com.au a key tool for homeowners about to embark on renovations, REA Group executive general manager of consumer product Jonathan Swift said.

REA’s AI-generated styling in action.

About one third of Australian properties are monitored by their owners on the platform, Mr Swift said.

“One of the things we’ve been looking at a lot is what are the types of things that owners are looking to answer when they use our product,” he said.

While most were initially drawn to the platform to see the in-market value of their property, the next big question for users revolved around simple renovations.

“We get a lot of requests from consumers every month, over 6000 questions; one of the main things was around wanting to update their property,” Mr Swift said.

Realestate.com.au began talks with Canadian software firm Roomvo about nine months ago and officially rolled out its AI-powered image generation tool last month.

Restyling a home with AI.

In its first month on realestate.com.au, Roomvo was used to style more than 500,000 property images by 170,000 people.

The initial uptake had “blown us away”, Mr Swift said.

“It really showed the kind of appetite owners and consumers in general have for using AI solutions to solve some real-world problems.”

One of the most popular features homeowners used to virtually update their homes was tiling, and river stone quartz wall tiles had proven to be the crowd favourite.

As for painting properties, the most popular colour was called “white linen”.

Realestate.com.au planned to soon include features from its partners, including paint colours, so that homeowners could take the app and show it in store and be provided with tools, parts and paints they would need to create the look for real.

The new tool also included a number of preset options including modern, rustic and coastal sterling settings for walls, floors and benchtops.

Pawel Rajszel, the chief executive of Roomvo, said the company was stoked to get a foot in the Australian market and help homeowners “reimagine their living spaces”.

How Roomvo looks within the REA app.

“Working with home decor manufacturers and retailers across the globe, we’re now excited to bring Roomvo to the Australian real estate market,” Mr Rajszel said.

“We want to make home designing accessible to all, empowering homeowners to realise their dream spaces.”

Mr Swift said realestate.com.au hoped to give property owners the chance to complete major digital renovations using the platform.

“It’s definitely something we’re exploring, so that people see what the kind of differences certain renovations would make – answer the ‘what would happen if I turned this room into an ensuite?’ or ‘what if I extended my home questions?” he said.