How Aerial Drone Photography Takes Your Real Estate Listings to New Heights
Aerial drone photography offers a unique perspective that can make real estate listings stand out. By capturing sweeping views of properties and surrounding areas, drones provide buyers with a complete picture of a home’s layout and environment. This innovative approach boosts engagement and can lead to faster sales. Learn how aerial photography can give your listings an edge in a competitive market.
6 min read
How Aerial Drone Photography Will Make Your Listing Stand Out
In today’s competitive real estate market, standing out is no easy task. With buyers becoming more tech-savvy and demanding a visual-first approach to shopping for homes, traditional photography sometimes isn’t enough to capture the full essence of a property. That’s where aerial drone photography comes in. What was once a novelty reserved for luxury properties or sprawling estates is now becoming a mainstream tool that realtors can use to enhance any listing.
Whether it’s showcasing a home’s proximity to nearby amenities, capturing the scale of the property, or providing a unique perspective, aerial drone photography can significantly boost the appeal of your listings. In this blog, we’ll explore why drone photography is essential for today’s real estate market and how it can help you attract more buyers, sell homes faster, and potentially increase property values.
What is Aerial Drone Photography?
Aerial drone photography involves using a drone equipped with a high-resolution camera to capture photos and videos from a bird’s-eye view. This technology allows realtors to present a property from perspectives that would otherwise be impossible without expensive helicopter rentals or aerial rigs.
Drones can fly over the property to capture sweeping landscape shots, highlight nearby amenities, and even show how a property sits in relation to neighboring homes, parks, or water bodies. Aerial photography adds a new dimension to the listing, giving potential buyers a full view of the property and its surroundings.
Example: A listing for a waterfront home can include drone footage that shows the house’s proximity to the water, dock access, and the surrounding neighborhood. These aerial shots provide buyers with a more complete understanding of the property, something that ground-level photography simply cannot achieve.
The Impact of Aerial Photography on Real Estate Marketing
Aerial drone photography is not just an impressive marketing tool—it’s one that delivers real, measurable results. According to MLS data, homes with aerial images sell 68% faster than those without. Listings with aerial shots also receive significantly more engagement online, which can lead to quicker offers and fewer days on the market.
For larger properties or homes with unique features like expansive gardens, pools, or nearby scenic views, aerial photography allows you to showcase these elements in their entirety. Without aerial photography, buyers might miss out on these critical selling points.
Why Realtors Should Use Aerial Drone Photography
1. Showcase the Property’s Scale and Layout
Aerial photography is perfect for large homes, estates, and properties with extensive outdoor spaces. It allows potential buyers to see the full scope of the property in one shot, something that traditional ground-level photography can’t accomplish.
Large Estates: For luxury properties, drone shots can show the expansive layout of the home, outbuildings, and landscaping, giving buyers a true sense of the property's grandeur.
Acreage and Farmland: For properties with large amounts of land, drones can capture the size of the plot, making it easier for buyers to visualize how much space they’re getting. Photo Example: An aerial shot of a sprawling countryside estate, with fields and woodlands highlighted in the frame.
Data Insight: According to Inman, homes with drone footage sell 32% faster than homes without it, and listings with aerial images can receive up to 50% more views.
2. Highlight Nearby Amenities and Surroundings
One of the biggest advantages of drone photography is its ability to capture the surrounding area of a property. Buyers aren’t just purchasing a home—they’re buying into a neighborhood. Aerial photos can highlight proximity to amenities like parks, schools, beaches, and downtown areas.
Proximity to Nature: For homes near parks, water, or natural landscapes, aerial shots can emphasize these features. Drones can fly over nearby hiking trails, lakes, or golf courses, showing buyers the lifestyle that comes with the home. Photo Example: A coastal home with a drone shot showing the nearby beach, nature reserve, and local marina.
Urban Properties: For urban or suburban homes, aerial photos can show the property’s proximity to important landmarks like shopping districts, public transportation, and schools. Buyers often want to know what the surrounding area looks like, and drone photography can provide that insight. Photo Example: A drone shot of a city townhouse showing its proximity to downtown and public transit hubs.
3. Create More Engaging Marketing Content
Drone photography allows realtors to create stunning, visually engaging marketing content that can easily be shared across social media, websites, and email campaigns. Video footage from drones, in particular, is highly shareable and can create buzz around a listing.
A study by Social Media Today shows that social media posts with drone video footage receive significantly more engagement compared to those with just images. For realtors, this means better visibility for your listings and more potential buyers viewing your content.
Example: A property listing video that starts with an aerial shot of the home, zooming in to reveal the front yard, driveway, and pool, can captivate buyers far more effectively than a series of still images.
4. Set Your Listings Apart from the Competition
As more realtors begin to adopt drone photography, listings without these dynamic visuals risk being overlooked. In today’s visual-driven marketplace, buyers expect more than just basic photos—they want to see the full picture. Drone photography gives you an edge over competitors who may not be utilizing this technology.
Luxury Listings: While drone photography started as a luxury marketing tool, it has now become more accessible for all types of properties. Still, it remains a must-have for high-end properties, where presentation is everything. Data Insight: Redfin found that homes listed with aerial photography saw a 68% increase in time spent viewing the listing compared to homes without it.
Example: In a market where several homes might have similar specs and price points, a listing that includes high-quality aerial drone footage can stand out to potential buyers scrolling through online listings.
5. Help Buyers Visualize the Property’s Full Potential
Drone footage isn’t just great for showing the home’s features—it also helps buyers understand how they can use the space. For homes with large backyards, potential for future construction, or outdoor recreational areas, aerial photography can give buyers ideas on how to maximize their use of the property.
Future Projects: Buyers may want to see the backyard space to imagine putting in a pool, garden, or outdoor entertaining area. A drone shot can clearly show how much room there is for future projects. Photo Example: An aerial shot showing an expansive backyard with ample space for landscaping, outdoor seating, and a pool installation.
Drone Videography: Bringing Listings to Life
While still drone shots are incredibly effective, drone videography adds an extra layer of immersion that can truly bring a listing to life. Video can show the property in action—whether it’s panning across the estate, flying over the pool, or circling around the entire property for a full 360-degree view.
Drone videography also allows for smoother transitions between different aspects of the property. Instead of individual shots of the front, back, and sides, a well-done video can seamlessly show the entire property in one continuous flow, making it easier for buyers to understand the layout.
Data Insight: According to MLS studies, homes that include drone videography in their marketing materials sell 20% faster and at higher prices compared to homes using only static images.
Common Misconceptions About Drone Photography in Real Estate
Despite its growing popularity, there are still some misconceptions surrounding drone photography in real estate. Let’s clear those up:
"Drone photography is only for luxury properties."
While drone photography was initially popular in the luxury market, it has become accessible and affordable for all types of properties. Even smaller homes can benefit from aerial views that show off the neighborhood, yard size, or nearby amenities.
"Drone photography is too expensive."
While it may seem like an added cost, the return on investment for drone photography is significant. Homes with aerial photography sell faster, which means less time on the market and more satisfied sellers.
"Drones are hard to use and require a lot of expertise."
Professional real estate media companies, like myself, handle all the technical aspects. From piloting the drone to post-production editing, we make the process seamless for realtors.
Your Listings will do better with Drone Photography
In an era where visuals dominate the real estate market, aerial drone photography is no longer just a luxury—it’s a necessity. Whether you’re selling a sprawling estate or a modest family home, drone photography can enhance your listings by providing unique perspectives, capturing the full scope of the property, and engaging potential buyers in ways that traditional photos can’t.
I specialize in aerial drone photography and videography that showcases your listings from new and unique angles. I am equipped with the latest drone technology to help you stand out in the competitive real estate market.
Contact me today to learn how our drone photography services can elevate your listings and help you sell homes faster.
Sources:
MLS Studies: https://www.mls.com
Inman: https://www.inman.com
Redfin: https://www.redfin.com
Social Media Today: https://www.socialmediatoday.com