Creating a real estate app similar to Zillow can position you as a market leader. Why is this strategy so effective? Zillow’s apps and websites attract a staggering 10.1 billion visits annually, with revenue projected to hit $2.71 billion by 2025. This makes Zillow the top real estate app in the United States, highlighting the immense potential in this market.
We live in a world where digitization is transforming every industry, real estate is no exception. Real Estate professionals and customers crave convenience and desire to buy, sell, and tour the property on smartphones. Zillow has made it a reality and set a new result-oriented model that every business owner wants to replicate and achieve success.
Business owners desire to develop a real estate app like Zillow to earn some extra benefits and improve their customer base & revenue. But app development is a long and challenging journey, and knowing real estate app development is the most important checkpoint that businesses must navigate before reaching the destination to success.
However, the average real estate app development cost is $15,000 to $100,000+ but there’s still much to explore. You need to explore factors that can impact your cost estimation. This blog dives deep into the cost of building a real estate app like Zillow, factors affecting the cost, and tips to reduce the development cost. Let’s get started:
Table of Contents
- Why Develop a Real Estate App Like Zillow?
- Key Features of A Real Estate App Like Zillow
- Factors Affecting the Development Cost of Apps like Zillow
- 1. Platform
- 2. Design
- 3. Features And Functionalities
- 4. Third-Party Integration
- 5. Quality Assurance And Testing
- Real Estate App Development Cost
- Tips To Reduce Real Estate App Development Cost
- Prioritize Necessary Features And Functionalities
- Choose The Right Development Team
- Leverage Cost-Effective Frameworks and Tools
- Outsource Non-Core Services
- Regular Review and Budget Adjusting
- The Bottom Line
- FAQs
- 1. What is Real Estate App Development?
- 2. How Long Does it Take to Develop a Real Estate App?
- 3. How to Develop a Real Estate Mobile App?
- 4. What is the Cost to Develop an App like Zillow?
Why Develop a Real Estate App Like Zillow?
Today’s consumers expect full transparency while purchasing a property. So, real estate professionals look for technology to assist them with smooth business management. That’s when apps similar to Zillow stand out from the others. From data handling and processing to transaction management, real estate apps cover all aspects of managing real estate business.
Zillow is the most popular property app in the United States. In 2024, the platform was used by 233 million unique users a month. According to iProperty Management, 58.46% of Zillow visits come from mobile users. These statistics highlight that Real Estate app like Zillow can be super popular by making it easy to find, buy, rent, and sell houses and provide an easy-to-use experience.
iProperty Management reported that Zillow’s revenue is $2.31 billion in 2024 and it is expected to reach $2.79 billion by 2026.
This data shows how the demand for advanced real estate apps is growing with every passing year. So, real estate businesses can achieve huge growth after building commercial real estate apps like Zillow. Here are some more reasons that you can consider developing a real estate app:
Improve User Experience: A well-built real estate app improves user experience by providing engaging navigation and high-quality visuals with the interactive property. The app makes it easy for users to view properties.
Expand User Base: An app sends notifications and alerts to spread awareness about the property. It allows users to be informed about new listings, price changes, and other updates. This results in attracting more customers which helps in expanding the customer base.
Better Customer Relationship Management: Offline real estate businesses need to hire brokers in different cities to help their customers and build relations with them. With a mobile app, customers can be connected 24/7 with the real estate business owner.
Key Features of A Real Estate App Like Zillow
After understanding the need for building a real estate app, let’s explore the essential features that should be included in the app to help users rent, purchase, and sell properties. These features are:
- User Login & Sign Up: Provide multiple sign-up and sign-in methods to simplify navigation. To make it easy for users to use the app, you can allow them to create accounts using their social media accounts.
- Search & Filters: Allow users to filter residences based on different filters such as price, location, and room number. Also, provide them with the facility to filter available rentals in various ways including keywords, property types, pet policy, and more.
- Property Details: Provide detailed information about the properties such as description, video, photo, price, landmarks, nearby areas, and more. When you include detailed information about the properties, it will make your application useful for consumers. You can do some research and find out how much does zillow charge to list a house to provide a cheap option for real estate agents or house owners to list a house.
- Photos & Street View: Include a feature of photo and street view to provide an accurate presentation of each property. Choosing immersive 360-degree virtual tours and videos can be a great advantage for users.
- Database: The success and popularity of a real estate app like Zillow depends on the quality of data it stores. You need to include a wide range of data to keep users engaged in your app. Collaborating with local real estate dealers and specialists is a must to provide a comprehensive database.
- Maps Integration: Allow users to see directions to each property to help them reach their easily. Make this feature more advanced by including a smart map function to help users see where they are and what other options are nearby.
- Visit Scheduling: Including a visit scheduling feature helps buyers to schedule an appointment with agents and see the property. This feature allows them to easily keep track of the open house and property buyer/seller meetings.
- Push Notifications: This feature has immense marketing potential. They should be used properly to provide enormous benefits such as new information, messages, and price changes about the properties.
- Integration With Real Estate CRM: This feature allows businesses to keep tabs on their leads and sales, providing access to real-time analytics. It helps businesses to target customers with personalized promotions and news.
- Virtual Home Tour: This feature has become essential in real estate apps. It allows users to leverage virtual reality and augmented reality and view the property before purchase.
- Favorites: Allow users to list their favorite properties in a particular section, saving the listing to view later. This feature makes it simple for customers to select desired properties only.
Apart from these features, you can provide some advanced features to make your app stand out. It’s essential to go through a real estate app development guide to understand more about features and apps. However, you can also choose to charge some payment for advanced features Zillow has some features that can be available for users after paying the Zillow subscription fee.
Factors Affecting the Development Cost of Apps like Zillow
Real estate app development is a complex task because many factors affect the cost of developing a real estate app. Businesses can’t ignore these factors because they are the most important part of the development process and help in setting a realistic budget. Businesses need to understand these factors to make better decisions, save money while maintaining quality, and create a real estate app like Zillow that meets customer needs and user expectations.
In this section, we’ll take a deep dive into the factors which influence the cost. This insight can help you understand their impact on the development process and cost. Let’s start understanding these factors in a detailed way.
1. Platform
The choice of platform (Android, iOS, or cross-platform) has a huge impact on the cost of real estate mobile app development. Developing native apps for Android or iOS can be costly and limit your market reach. That’s when businesses choose cross-platform app development which saves some amount of money and allows businesses to cover both platforms.
Each platform has specific standards and development environment which requires time and resources. With the use of top cross-platform app development frameworks, this approach increases the user base of the application while saving money and time for businesses.
2. Design
The design and user interface (UI) play a crucial role in user engagement and retention. You need to choose a custom-designed UI that is tailored to the specific needs and branding of the app. However, it can be more expensive but enhances the user experience.
You need to hire a professional UI/UX design agency to create intuitive and visually appealing interfaces. The more complex the design, the more costlier it would be. A custom and interactive design requires time and expertise, resulting in an increasing development budget.
3. Features And Functionalities
Features and functionalities are the primary factors that affect the real estate app development cost. Including basic features such as property listings, search filters, and contact forms will not increase the cost as much. The use of AI in real estate impacts the cost. Thus, adding advanced features like AI-based recommendations, virtual tours, or real-time chat increases the money and time.
Integrating location-based services, push notifications, and user analytics can increase the complexity, resulting in increased costs. Think twice before adding additional features because it can increase the overall real estate app development cost. You need to adopt a set of basic features to manage costs while providing a robust and engaging user experience.
4. Third-Party Integration
The integration of third-party services enhances the functionality of the real estate app but escalates app development costs. Essential integrations are mapping services, payment gateways, CRM systems, and social media platforms. Each integration requires custom API development which results in increasing complexity and cost.
5. Quality Assurance And Testing
Testing and quality assurance are important phases in real estate application development. It ensures the app is bug-free, user-friendly, and seamless. This process involves testing the functionality, usability, and performance of the app. Businesses can develop an MVP and follow best ways for MVP testing for successful app launch.
When you include a lot of features, it takes a lot of time to test the application. However, testing and quality assurance can’t be ignored because it prevents future maintenance costs and provides a good user experience. These things are vital to drive business growth after launching the app.
Real Estate App Development Cost
Now that you know about the factors that affect the cost, let’s explore the cost of developing a real estate app like Zillow. $15,000 to $100,000+ is the real estate mobile app development cost. However, the cost depends on the factors listed above and businesses should know them to set a proper budget and start development.
The complexity of the app is the most significant factor. A simple app with basic features costs less than an advanced app because a simple app includes only normal features that are essential. However, this is just an estimate of the cost. As a business owner, you need to talk to an experienced real estate app development company to know the actual development cost.
Tips To Reduce Real Estate App Development Cost
If you want to build an advanced app like Zillow but you are crossing your budget, don’t worry we’ve got you covered. We are giving some tips to reduce real estate app development cost without compromising on quality. With these tips, you can save your money and provide a top-class experience to your users. These tips are:
Prioritize Necessary Features And Functionalities
You need to focus on the core features that are important for the app’s functionality. Adding too many features can be costly and consume a lot of time. Prioritizing important features can help you reduce development costs and focus on important things.
Choose The Right Development Team
Choose a development team that provides a balance between money and quality. You can choose teams from regions where living costs are lower and they didn’t compromise on quality. If you choose the right team, you can save up to 20-30% development cost.
Leverage Cost-Effective Frameworks and Tools
Choose frameworks and tools that speed up the real estate app development process and reduce the need for writing code from scratch. It helps in cutting down development time which ultimately leads to 25-40% cost saving.
Outsource Non-Core Services
You can outsource services like testing, content creation, and some other development tasks to specialized agencies or freelancers. This approach can result in more than 20% cost savings because you will leverage expertise within the budget and your in-house team can be able to focus on other tasks.
Regular Review and Budget Adjusting
Keep reviewing the budget throughout the development process and make necessary adjustments. This approach can prevent unnecessary cost-consumption and ensure that you are using all the financial resources carefully.
The Bottom Line
After reading the blog, you must have understood that building a real estate app like Zillow can cost up to $15,000 to $100,000+. However, the real estate app development cost is a volatile factor and it can vary. You need to make informed decisions while developing the application to build a smart and future-ready app.
However, you need to partner with a reliable real estate app development company to build your desired application. Rannlab Technologies is a leading mobile app development company in USA and India with years of experience. Our team of expert developers knows how to leverage advanced technologies and build intelligent real estate mobile app like Zillow.
FAQs
1. What is Real Estate App Development?
Real estate app development is a process of building mobile and web apps for the real estate industry. These apps allow users to buy, sell, rent, and invest in real estate by offering access to property listings, market data, and communication tools.
2. How Long Does it Take to Develop a Real Estate App?
The time for developing a real estate app is 3 to 6 months. However, the timing can vary depending on the complexity of the application. A simple app can be built within months but an advanced real estate app can take a year.
3. How to Develop a Real Estate Mobile App?
You can develop a real estate app by following steps such as research and planning, prototyping and designing, development and deployment, and maintenance and updates. This process can help you build a successful real estate mobile app.
4. What is the Cost to Develop an App like Zillow?
Building an app like Zillow costs $15,000 to $100,000+. However, the cost can vary depending on several factors such as platform, design, app complexity, third-party integration, and development team.
