A virtual-reality tour provides potential buyers with the experience of stepping inside an apartment complex and experiencing the property, without leaving the comfort of their home.

Laing + Simmons, along with Start VR, a virtual reality development studio, and Electric Art, a computer graphics, photography and high-end retouching company, have developed the technology to reassure buyers considering buying a property off the plan. The virtual-reality tours are the first of their kind in Australia.

Electric Art creates the renders in close consultation with the architects. Branding is developed by Darling Brands. Start VR ties the elements together with drone photography into the virtual tour.

Start VR CEO, Kain Tietzel, said photo-realistic computer renderings and drone photography mean buyers can use virtual reality to experience an off-the-plan apartment. "The future is here and available now. Buyers purchasing an apartment off-the-plan no longer need to imagine what it would be like. With true virtual reality technology, they can now put themselves right inside the apartment and experience what it will be like," he said.

"From the real panoramic views through to the sense of space and layout, buyers can get a true feel for what they are investing in before construction even starts.

"Aside from the practicalities of this incredible technology, the beauty of virtual reality is that it's emotional, so you get to enjoy a reaction to a future space that you can't get any other way.

"Virtual reality using head-mounted displays goes beyond the interactive 360-degree tours that have been available previously."

Laing + Simmons is providing virtual reality tours for its residential development, EDGE 28, at its display suite at 28 Albany Street, St Leonards. EDGE 28 is a luxury, architect-designed, residential development of one, two and three-bedroom apartments.  

For those wishing to experience the virtual tour from the comfort of their own home, you can download the EDGE 28 app from the App Store or Google Play, and view it with any Google Cardboard viewer. Knoxlabs sells cardboard units online for as little as $16.95.