Real estate developers in Saudi Arabia have begun to employ virtual reality technology as an innovative way to marketing their projects, which will enable customers and interested people, whether tenants or buyers, to visit real estate, tour it and explore all the details quickly and easily through smart phones and tablets or by using special virtual reality glasses without the need to head to the property location. It is obvious that the companies` trend of adopting technology and electronic platforms has developed the real estate market. This new and innovative technology contributes to saving real estate seekers time on one hand, through sparing actual visits to real estate sites, and save developers time and resources as they market their properties on the other hand. Through virtualization and 3D technology, the projects created will be embodied with digital and 3D structures, while the under construction projects made out of maps drawings will be integrated into digital reality, giving customers and investors the opportunity to scrutinize the current or future shape of exterior and interior designs, and the finishing details of residential projects or villas. Abdullah Aba Al Khail, CEO of Voxel, one of the most prominent projects incubated by the Badir Program for Technology Incubators and Accelerators of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), assumed that real estate developers have begun to adopt the latest technological innovation in their operations, thus keeping up with the changing market trends and meeting the growing customer expectations. Future developments in virtual reality technologies are more likely to realize a qualitative shift in the way those companies market their projects away from traditional methods. Aba Al Khail, who heads a Saudi team specialized in the digital 3D scanning and virtual reality technologies, said this innovative technology will enable people to access the property, get to know its full details and navigate it using mobile from anywhere in the world and 24 hours a day. He pointed out that the virtual reality technology recently began to spread rapidly until it reached the sectors of virtual real estate, which will make the change in the nature of dealing with real estate, sales and lease very promising in the future. "Every day, we are witnessing a lot of exciting innovations that are impacting our quotidian habits, the way of doing business, and making our daily tasks easier in most areas, including real estate. The virtualization is among the interesting techniques that make the process of managing, selling and buying real estate easier than ever, thus leading to narrowing the gap between sellers and buyers," he added. The new technologies in the field of marketing real estate or government facilities offer many advantages such as explanatory points inside the property or the establishment to clarify certain characteristics, enable people to enter the property and tour it, displaying high resolution images of the site, activating the open house service 24 hours, carefully exhibit the dimensions and spaces of the real estate or facility, and navigate the property using smart devices and virtual reality glasses. — SG
