Start Searching with AI

Recent surveys show how buyers are using AI in their home search, offering clues about how real estate professionals can adapt to the shift.
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of the early stages of the homebuying journey, especially among younger consumers, but it’s not replacing the role of real estate professionals at key decision points, according to the latest Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report.
The survey finds that one in five–or 20%–of prospective buyers and current homeowners have turned to AI tools or chatbots for homebuying research. Adoption is highest among younger generations, with 28% of millennials and 32% of Gen Z saying they’ve used AI to support their home search or for financial planning.
The growing use of AI in home buying comes as consumers increasingly expect the technology to play a role in real estate transactions. A separate survey of prospective and recent home buyers earlier this year by Cotality found that 55% of buyers now use generative AI tools at least once a month, and three-quarters assume AI is already influencing parts of the homebuying process, from property searches to mortgage quotes.
It’s prompting real estate professionals to pay closer attention to how they and their information appear across AI-driven platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and others.
What Buyers Are Looking for on AI
Much of buyers’ AI use appears to be concentrated in the early, informational phase of the homebuying process, according to the Bank of America survey. For buyers who used AI in their home search, they said they most often turned to it for:
Estimating affordability, mortgage payments or closing costs (57%)
General education and research about the homebuying process (55%)
Researching neighborhoods, market trends or property values (52%)
AI is becoming a meaningful first step in the homebuying journey, especially for younger buyers. However, when it comes to high-stakes decisions, people still want trusted experts by their side. More than half of respondents say they still prefer real estate professionals when touring homes and when seeking legal or contractual guidance.
Clients seem to be leaning into a mix of high-tech solutions during their house hunt, such as the digital convenience for the early steps in investigating the mortgage process but with direct access to experienced lending and real estate professionals for guidance throughout the transaction.
That preference for human expertise is echoed in other industry research. Cotality’s housing survey found 44% of buyers say they would be willing to pay more for a human professional to verify information generated by AI tools.
Agents Meet Clients Where They Are—on AI
The shift is influencing how some real estate professionals approach their digital visibility and client engagement. The urgency to do so may be growing. An analysis from AI search firm FlyDragon found that more than 60% of buyer-side real estate searches now begin through AI interfaces, yet fewer than 10% of agents appear in AI-generated responses when consumers ask location-based questions about real estate professionals.
Agents are responding by leaning into Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategies, focusing on how AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity surface recommendations when consumers ask questions like “Who is the best real estate agent near me?” or “Whom should I contact in my market?”
In doing so, they need to consider how AI tools organize information, summarize options and surface professionals when targeting GEO strategies.
The work is translating into business for some agents. A luxury real estate professional recently told REALTOR® News about how an AI-driven strategy helped a prospective seller find him through Gemini AI. AI didn’t just surface his name—it synthesized a digital footprint, pulling together his credentials, video content and professional background into a single recommendation that helped establish trust before the first conversation.
Clients are increasingly coming to agents from AI-originated inquiries, with some agents even appearing ahead of larger brokerages in generated results.