Buyer snaps up $1.67m house sight-unseen from 1,700km away

One factor gave a home buyer the confidence to purchase their dream home without ever stepping foot inside, as tools such as vertical videos and 3D tours reshape how Australians buy and sell properties. The time-poor home buyer was living and working in Cairns in far north Queensland when a stunning three-bedroom Queenslander with all the trimmings including a white picket fence in Morningside on Brisbane's southside caught his attention online. The buyer was in a tough spot since the well-presented family house was located within one of Australia's hottest property markets, where homes have been selling quickly and the city's median home price is 11.1% higher than a year ago. He was unable to fly to inspect the property in time for its auction, so he asked the listing agent Zita Durand of Ray White Bulimba if they could send a friend to inspect the home on their behalf. Ms Durand welcomed the request, but she also sent the buyer a property walkthrough reel - a short and continuous mobile-friendly video designed to give buyers a quick and realistic sense of a property's layout and flow. She didn't hear back from the buyer until auction day, when he registered for the auction remote...