CommBank app brings augmented reality to house hunters

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 04 August 2010 18:21

Your IT - Mobility

A new iPhone app from the Commonwealth Bank enables users to point their Apple phone at a house and get an instant valuation. At least that's the way it works in theory.

Originally announced in April, the CommBank Property Guide app for the iPhone overlays live images from the device's camera with data including the property's sales history, current listings and recent sales. The information comes from realestate.com.au and RP Data.

At that time, Mark Murray, the bank's general manager of consumer marketing, said "The new iPhone application will be an industry first in Australia.  Home buyers and sellers can easily access a host of customised information, tools and insights on every home in Australia - for free."

"The application is a significant milestone in our 2013 vision of banking, bringing virtual reality property search to customers right here, right now," he added.

The app also offers map and list views, customised searches, suburb profiles, a home loan repayment calculator, and more. Although the app itself is free, much of the data is only available for in-app purchase.

Despite the inevitable outcry from those with privacy concerns, the app does not appear to expose any information that wasn't already available via the web - it simply makes it easier to access while people are actively house hunting.

In any case, initial testing by iTWire suggests the data may not be completely accurate - the app showed a price $50,000 below the actual amount paid for a recently sold house.