Families can now take a virtual 3D tour of Santa’s House on Zillow® in a new interactive way. They can explore every charming corner of the Clauses’ North Pole cabin using a floor plan generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The tour features bigger, high-resolution photos of never-before-seen spaces, such as Santa’s mailroom and gift-wrapping suite, organized room by room.
This year, Santa has added more fun to the tour with a virtual treasure hunt. More than a dozen holiday items, including mistletoe, fruitcake, and 15 other traditional trimmings, are now hidden throughout his cozy cabin. The Clauses have also made a few festive upgrades to their cabin, including a custom elf door, a naughty-or-nice detector, and a hot cocoa bar.
“Rest assured, Santa is not selling his beloved home,” said Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s home trends expert. “The Clauses wanted to spread joy this holiday season by adding new photos and virtual experiences to their home details page on Zillow. This immersive technology makes it easy to imagine the spicy, sugary scent of gingerbread fresh out of Santa’s cookie-baking oven, the nostalgic sounds of classic Christmas carols crackling on the record player and the comfort of sliding into a pair of well-worn slippers warmed by the fire.”
The Clauses claimed their home on Zillow in 2016, and it has since become a high-tech holiday tradition, receiving more than 3 million views to date. Santa’s House is now valued at $1.18M, showing an increment of over 2% since last Christmas. Zillow calculated a special Zestimate® for Santa’s unique property by using comparable homes in remote locations and adding a premium for Santa.
This interactive version of Santa’s House was created using Listing Showcase from Zillow’s ShowingTime+SM brand. It is the same technology that sellers and agents can use to showcase the best features of a for-sale home and make it stand out on Zillow. Listing Showcase will be available nationwide early next year.
Listing Showcase applies AI to select scrolling images based on what home shoppers want to see and organizes and matches the photos to their corresponding rooms. It also embeds those images into a clickable floor plan so potential buyers know precisely where each photo was taken.
This technology provides visitors to Santa’s House with a better understanding of the layout, making it easier to navigate the cabin remotely without a trek to the North Pole. It also offers a realistic look inside the Clauses’ magical world, enchanting yet believable.
