Welcome to our first episode of The Proptech Podcast – the podcast that explores where real estate and technology collide. 

Our first guest is Dr Dan Swan from RealAR, an augmented reality startup that allows anyone to ‘see’ a building before a brick has even been laid. It works as a mobile phone app – making it accessible to anyone – and can work from any plans, whether that’s a multi-storey new apartment development, or the architectural design  of your new dream home.  

RealAR was recently selected as one of just 10 startups selected from more than 750 to take part in the Techstars Accelerator in the US. Dan started RealAR with co-founder Keith Ahern and Dan joined me from Silicon Valley.  

01:04 The elevator pitch: how RealAR closes the gap between buyer understanding and customer sales in off the plan properties through product visualisation and spatial representation.

02:06 How 2D plans keep most people awake at night when they’re building or buying off the plan. 

02:46 Aphantasia and how most of us struggle to visualise 2D as 3D.

04:04 How RealAR saves builders and developers display home costs. 

05:46 How fear and the risks of getting it wrong both increases stress and worry when building and therefore affects new home sales. 

06:01 How pixels are cheaper than bricks and how products like RealAR make it easier to see what you want to change before the property is built. 

06:53 The $70b residential market opportunity in Australia and how the US is even bigger 

08:21 The competition and the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality.

11:07 Light and the importance of space in AR rendering

11:54 The impact of technology like RealAR on council decision making, neighbour disputes over new builds and providing community feedback.

14:56 How RealAR works and integrates with Autodesk formats. 

15:59 Dan explains how RealAR is moving to a real time model where you’ll be able to take a photograph of a plan from a brochure and walk through immediately.

23:00 How real estate agents can use tools like RealAR to list and sell property. 

26:34 Supporting buying decisions from foreign buyers and how AR can make buying easier for property buyers.

27:33 The big data play of AR

29:14 Dan and Keith’s involvement in the TechStars accelerator with Colliers globally.