Estate agent Purplebricks is launching a high-speed house brochure service with 25 second tours of new homes on TikTok. The initiative follows new research by the brand which found that British homebuyers take an average of 25 seconds to decide whether a house is right for them.

The initiative comes following unprecedented demand and record sales in the housing market in 2021. Indeed, post-pandemic demand combined with the ‘race for space’ and stamp duty holidays have seen houses sell quicker than at any other time in the last 10 years.

The new home-selling service provides a virtual tour of properties highlighting all the house’s rooms and key features and rooms of the house in 25-second videos.

Purplebricks is encouraging sellers to shoot the videos themselves, for showcasing on the brand’s website and TikTok channel. Current homes already listed on the service include a stylish penthouse in Wandsworth and a 5-bedroom former aircraft factory conversion.

Sellers interested in taking up the new initiative will be given a how-to video guide, fronted by TV presented Anna Richardson, to enable them to make the most effective TikTok videos.  

“Following a year where we have seen the property market running hot and property sales moving faster than ever, we are launching 25 second high-speed house brochure tours to make the initial listings search quick, easy, and entertaining,” said Purplebricks CMO, Ben Carter. “We know that people are short on time and that wading through property listings can be stressful and all-consuming. We are launching our 25-second virtual tours to help home-hunters make one of the most special decisions of their lives.”

Anna Richardson said: “I’ve recently moved into a new property so I can definitely relate to that gut-feel emotion we all deal with when it comes to making those all-important decisions, however that gut-feel intuition can make the process of selling your home a little harder. There are so many things we can do to make our homes more enticing so Ive teamed up with Purplebricks on their How to Guide for 25 second tours – a useful guide that highlights how we can use apps like TikTok to get our houses sold”.

The Purplebricks study of 2,000 Brits revealed that the kitchen (78 per cent), lounge (60 per cent) and bedrooms (55 per cent) are the three most important rooms to consider when looking for a new home. The ability to add value is also key, as 70 per cent of those surveyed said it was important for a property to have potential for renovations or improvements. 36 per cent said that they would be swayed by a property if it were ‘social media ready’, and a property they’d be proud to show off on TikTok or Instagram.

60 per cent of respondents said they would only view a property if its online listing has impressed them, while 40 per cent said a short, digestible video would help them when shortlisting properties.