RESEARCH ROUNDUP
A carefully sourced reference to real estate technology, listing media, buyer and seller behavior, short-form video and AI. Every statistic includes its year, audience and original source.
Last reviewed September 2, 2026
Real estate technology adoption
NAR's 2025 survey shows broad use of social media, drone media, virtual tours and AI-generated content. Saving time and improving the client experience are leading reasons for adopting technology.
75% of REALTORS reported using social media in their real estate business.
52% of REALTORS used drone photography or video.
38% reported using virtual tours.
45% said clients responded very positively when technology was integrated into buying and selling.
66% said saving time was a primary reason for adopting new technology.
64% said enhancing the client experience motivated technology adoption.
Visual marketing, video and AI are already part of the real estate technology mix.
Time savings and client experience provide the clearest operational connection to scalable media production.
Buyer behavior and listing media
Prospective buyers ranked floor plans, high-resolution photos and 3D tours above conventional video when forced to choose one most important listing feature. That does not measure whether video helps discovery or social distribution.
81% of buyers rated listing photos as the most useful feature in an online home search.
69% of buyers used a mobile or tablet device during their property search.
79% of successful buyers installed a real estate app during the buying process.
67% of prospective buyers had viewed homes for sale on a real estate website.
33% of prospective buyers ranked the floor plan as the single most important listing feature.
26% ranked high-resolution photos as the single most important listing feature.
20% ranked a 3D or virtual tour as the single most important listing feature.
4% ranked video as their single most important listing feature.
70% of buyers agreed that a 3D tour gives a better feel for the space than static photos.
62% of buyers wished more listings included 3D tours.
Video was not the top factual listing asset in this forced-choice question; its role may be discovery and distribution.
Agreement with both statements increased between the endpoints shown.
Seller expectations
Seller research supports presenting a complete visual-marketing package during a listing pitch. It does not establish that one media format causes a faster sale or higher price.
71% of sellers were more likely to hire an agent who included virtual tours or interactive floor plans.
78% were more likely to hire an agent who included high-resolution photography.
64% considered a virtual tour a very or extremely important part of their listing.
81% considered a floor plan a very or extremely important part of their listing.
The result measures seller preference during agent selection, not a causal effect on sale outcomes.
Short-form video benchmarks
HubSpot and Wyzowl show the wider marketing environment in which agents publish. These cross-industry findings must not be rewritten as real-estate-specific ROI.
60% of marketers used short-form video in 2025.
49% of marketers identified short-form video as an ROI-driving format.
69% of video marketers had created social-media videos.
AI production
AI adoption appears in both real estate and video marketing research. For agents with approved photography, photo-to-video tools can reuse existing assets without requiring a separate shoot for each social post.
46% reported using AI-generated content in their real estate business.
63% of video marketers had used AI video tools to help create or edit marketing videos.
Research methodology and source policy
Core figures come from primary real estate research. Primary general marketing surveys provide clearly labeled context. Secondary compilations are used only to discover a possible source, never as the preferred citation.
Adoption surveys describe tool use. Buyer and seller surveys describe preferences and behavior. General marketing surveys describe a broader industry. None should be converted into an unsupported claim about sale price, speed or inquiries.
Current publications attribute the claim to different sources, and we could not verify one original study with a clear sample and methodology. LoftCue does not treat it as a current industry benchmark.
Primary sources and survey notes
Open the original research and keep the survey population beside each number.
National Association of REALTORS®, 2025
National Association of REALTORS®, 2024
National Association of REALTORS®, 2024–2025
Zillow Research, 2025
Zillow Research, 2025
Zillow Research, 2024
Zillow Research, 2024
HubSpot, 2026
Cross-industry benchmark — not real-estate-specificWyzowl, 2026
Cross-industry benchmark — not real-estate-specificFAQ
Current evidence supports demand for rich visual media, but many exact view or inquiry uplift claims lack a traceable current primary study. Zillow does show that 70% of 2024 buyers felt 3D tours gave a better sense of space than static photos.
NAR found that 52% of REALTORS used drone photography or video and 38% used virtual tours in 2025. It did not publish one combined percentage for every type of listing and social video.
75% reported using social media in NAR's 2025 Technology Survey, and 39% identified it as their top technology source for quality leads.
In NAR's 2024 survey, Facebook led at 87%, followed by Instagram at 62%, LinkedIn at 48% and YouTube at 25%.
The definition matters. In 2025, 20% of prospective buyers chose a 3D or virtual tour as their single most important listing feature; in 2024, 70% of successful buyers said 3D tours helped them understand space better than static photos.
Real estate research confirms heavy social media use among agents, while broader marketing research identifies short-form video as an ROI-driving format. The broader ROI result is not a real-estate-specific measurement.
Yes. NAR found that 46% of respondents used AI-generated content in 2025. Separately, Wyzowl found that 63% of video marketers across industries had used AI video tools.
LoftCue
Create a ready-to-post short-form property video from approved photos, then review every generated scene before publishing.
Create a property reel
Social media use by REALTORS
Social media is an established real estate channel
Facebook and Instagram lead adoption among REALTORS. YouTube use was lower in NAR's 2024 sample, so its broader marketing popularity should be treated as context rather than proof of a real estate performance gap.
39% identified social media as their top technology source for quality leads.
87% of real estate professionals reported using Facebook.
62% reported using Instagram.
48% reported using LinkedIn.
25% reported using YouTube.
Social networks used by real estate professionals, 2024
YouTube adoption was materially below Facebook and Instagram in this NAR sample.