Lockdown has made ‘virtual viewings’ a key to successful house-hunting, and Catalyst will be using the technology to host the launch of its Nova at Queensbury Square development of Shared Ownership apartments on the weekend on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 April.
There’s a range of one-, two- and three-bedroom homes available here to first-time buyers, with a minimum starter share of 40%.
So far, more than 40 serious buyers have booked an appointment with one of the sales team over the weekend. Signing in from a link to the Microsoft Teams app, they will be taken through room by room and can speak to and ask questions of their host at any time.
“We treat this like a real face-to-face meeting,” said area sales manager Joe Farrington, who was giving us a sneaky peak of the system ahead of the launch. “We can talk about things like specification and layout, as well as leaning more on the personal story about what people are looking for in a new home.”
This is the first time that Catalyst has launched a scheme this way, though it introduced the technology just a couple of weeks ago at its NEON development, a mile or so away in Burnt Oak.
Nova at Queensbury Square
Joe kindly spent an hour with us, taking us through the two-bedroom ‘digital’ show apartment, which is actually a photorealistic CGI created by Tidywork Studio, as the site is still under construction and there’s no built show home.
After our initial chat about the property market and an overall look at Nova at Queensbury Square, Joe began the viewing in the hallway. We then moved to the spacious open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, which has full-height glazed doors out onto a generous private terrace. Though the property has been ‘virtually’ furnished and decorated, there is a lot of emphasis on the specification of these properties. This makes it simple to see things like the herringbone flooring, tiling, and kitchen appliances and fittings. From here we went to the master bedroom, bedroom two (which is being shown as a combination single bedroom and home office) and the bathroom. From every viewpoint, it’s easy to zoom in and out, turn 360° and look at rooms from different angles. The sales team can also hand over control to the house-hunter at any time.
We conclude the tour with a look at the external layout of the development and floorplans of each unit, each of which has its own private terrace or balcony. We also talk about the area. Queensbury has a host of shops, amenities, leisure facilities and places to eat and this development is only a few minutes’ walk from the Jubilee line station, just half-an-hour from the West End.
Social-distancing and self-isolation has actually led to a rise in sales enquiries to Catalyst, said Joe. “People have more time on their hands, and following the popularity of our video tours, we knew it was worth upgrading to these interactive tours. And with spending so much time at home now, people really find out if they need their own extra space."
“We are seeing interest from people all over London. By the time they come to us, we find that many of our buyers are already well-researched and educated on the area. They are also very comfortable using this technology, and about buying the plot they want off-plan. There is every chance this type of interaction will become the norm, especially at sites where a built show home isn’t available.”
Screenshot of Nova virtual viewing
Markus Kendall-Young, head of sales and marketing at Catalyst, added: “In the current climate, it is essential for us to be flexible so that we can best support first-time buyers. We are excited to offer a virtual launch at Nova at Queensbury Square. We want to show hopeful buyers that they do not have to put their dream of homeownership on hold.”
The launch of Nova at Queensbury Square begins at 10.00am on Saturday 25 April.
One-bedroom apartments start from £132,000 for a 40% share (full market value £330,000), two-bedroom apartments start from £169,000 for a 40% share (full market value £422,500), and three-bedroom apartments start from £210,000 for a 40% share (full market value £525,000).
For more information and to book a virtual tour, email [email protected], or visit catalyst.homes.
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