when luxury real estate takes over social networks

Luxury real estate is increasingly viewed on Instagram and TikTok. Discover “real estate porn”, window shopping for luxury real estate, a trend that sometimes turns into an obsession.

You may be familiar with the “food porn” trend, here is its real estate variation: “real estate porn”. Sumptuous villas, architect-designed apartments, moldings, grandiose volumes and custom-made furniture… According to a study by the SeLoger group*, released in mid-March, 62% of French people consume real estate content on social networks. This trend is particularly widespread among younger people, since 85% of them are under 35 years old. On Instagram, the hashtag #realestate has 107 million publications, while the hashtag #realestate only has 4.3 million. And professionals in the sector are banking on this trend.

Real estate agencies and real estate agents are increasingly present on social networks. A way to rejuvenate their image, to create clicks too. Nearly 285,000 followers follow the account of the Kretz family at the head of the docu-reality The Agency, broadcast on Netflix. Nearly 90,000 followers are also subscribed to the Vaneau Real Estate account, specialist in luxury real estate since 1972, and even nearly 377,000 followers on TikTok for the account The Victoria House. Throughout the publications, we can see apartments, each more luxurious than the next, with sea views, bay windows, dizzying ceiling heights and high-end materials. Goods which are estimated at several million euros.

Surprising when we know that users of social networks are often very young, sometimes even minors. Thimothée, Gaspard and Simon are all only 16 years old: “The wide open spaces, the bay windows, the indoor swimming pools. The giant screens! It’s certainly a dream but it’s not necessarily accessible.” Eva is 26 years old: “It’s pleasant to look at, it feels good. It makes you dream for a few minutes.”

“A small proportion” of subscribers “are potential buyers”

With 90,000 followers on Instagram, the French agency Vaneau Immobilier is doing well. “We have several videos that exceed a million views. We even have one that has made eight million. But, as in the real world, people who have the means to buy the apartment which is worth four, five million ‘euros’ are few in number, explains Baptiste Bourdeleau, the group’s marketing director.

“It’s not like when you go to a real estate site, where I really do a real estate search processhe continues. It will appear in my feed in relation to the algorithm, in relation to what I already like and the subjects that attract me, so there will be a lot of people arriving, people who will like, comment. And a small proportion who are potential buyers.” However, Vaneau Immobilier invests to develop its presence on social networks: graphic designers, communications managers and sometimes external service providers. “We make about two or three publications per week. We identify a property, we go through the owner to find out if he agrees. We identify the places first so we imagine the route we are going to take and then we do one, two, four takes if we really need to. Then we edit it, we put the music on and then we post.”

These efforts can sometimes pay off big: “Social networks are quite universal. We also reach foreign customers. On properties worth three million euros, we had a Brazilian and an Englishwoman. It brings us together, things are less far away, we can contact very quickly . So yes, in my opinion it will only go up.”, concluded Baptiste Bourdeleau. The objective for the group, for the moment, is to develop its visibility and notoriety. Vaneau Immobilier hopes to achieve “within a relatively short period of time” the 100,000 subscribers.

*Methodology: YouGov quantitative study carried out from February 20 to 21, 2024 on 1,002 people representative of the French national population aged 18 and over.