Meta plays a strong role in property marketing and has identified ‘housing’ as a Special Ad Category. You can select this in the campaign set up stage however Special Ad Categories come with specific requirements and restrict targeting to prevent discrimination and to comply with regulations. One of the strict rules you must follow with this category is that you cannot mention ‘mortgages’ within your ads as per the Advertising Standards Meta supply in their transparency centre.
While this can limit a paid social strategy when compared with other industries we can demonstrate the importance of Meta in the marketing mix for the property industry, through Meta’s halo effect and format testing.
Property Marketing Landscape
The real estate market has experienced significant fluctuations recently. Property price inflation has moderated to 1.9% in January 2025, reflecting a combination of factors. The number of homes for sale has increased by 11% year-on-year, outpacing the 10% rise in sales agreed, which is contributing to a more balanced market. Additionally, the anticipated rise in stamp duty from April 2025 is influencing buyer behaviour, as many now face higher costs. Given these fluctuations and the constantly changing housing landscape, diverse marketing strategies are becoming increasingly essential to reach the right audience.
A recent Rightmove survey found that 65% of homebuyers in the UK turn to social media to explore new properties, with 74% being influenced by property photos they see online. In 2022, 74% of homebuyers relied on mobile devices during their property search, highlighting the importance of mobile-friendly marketing for optimal performance. Given the significant role social media plays in property searches, real estate agents have turned to Meta to advertise with 90% using Facebook to promote listings and 52% using Instagram.
Meta’s Halo Effect
While organic and paid search are recognised as leading channels for lead generation in real estate, with conversion rates of 3.2% for organic and 1.5% for paid search, the impact of social media on the user journey is demonstrated, particularly through Meta’s role in search behaviour. By tracking searches from users exposed to Meta ads, we observed 1,779 Google or Bing searches within a month for one client, demonstrating the platform’s strong impact on both organic search (SEO) and paid search activity. This highlights the significant role social media plays in influencing the user journey.
Format Testing
A/B testing is crucial to understanding the effectiveness of different strategies, to make efficient optimisations, and ensure strategies are evolving with the social media platform and industry. Across our property clients we have tested a number of Meta ad formats to assess the strongest performing for both that client, region and the specific development.
Meta Catalogue Ads in Property
Meta Catalogue ads look like any other in feed ad, but the products are shown dynamically per person using event data from the pixel or app SDK. Catalogue ads offer a unique way to showcase houses to users through specific plots and plot information. We have tested running regional, development, house type and price specific catalogue sets to ensure the right people can be reached with the right plots. This allows Meta to tailor the creative to the user on what they are most likely to convert on. Catalogues can be customised per industry using the filters available, for example an eCommerce catalogue will have different filters than a property one. We would recommend setting up the catalogue filters specific to the industry for the strongest performance.
Property Catalogue Fields
These are the required filters you need to include when creating a catalogue for a property client:
- Home listing ID
- Plot name
- Development Name
- Postcode
- City
- Number of beds
- Price
Additionally, these filters are optional but provide more options to create granular catalogue sets:
- Number of Baths
- Region
- Street Address
- Description
Instant Experiences
This format creates a full-screen, immersive experience for the user. This format is mobile first approach, which aligns with strong presence of homebuyers using a mobile device in their property search. There are different versions of Instant Experience’s that allow you to personalise this for the industry and content, including linking catalogue sets to incorporate plot specific information within the format that is dynamic to the user.
From testing this format against standard formats such as a carousel, the instant experience has delivered 66% more conversions and is 62% more cost effective (Jan, 2025). Setting up an instant experience ad within a current campaign, but with a dedicated ad set and budget allocations has delivered continued strong performance MoM.
Meta Reels
Meta’s Reels presents a powerful opportunity for marketers to tap into the growing popularity of full-screen, short-form video content. Since Reels launched, Instagram has seen a 24% increase in time spent on the platform, with half of that time dedicated to watching Reels. In fact, 61% of users reported that Reels encouraged them to further consider a brand they were already familiar with, proving just how crucial Reels is in a well-rounded, multi-format marketing strategy.
Following Metas creative essentials when creating reels is crucial with a 2X higher delivery to the reels placements when the this is taken into consideration. We found that using creative in the right dimensions, including sound and taking the safe-zones into account with low-fi content designed for this placement delivers stronger performance. Testing this format against a single image ad, reels delivered 225% more conversions and is 36% more cost effective (Jan,2025). And similarly to the instant experience format we saw continued strong performance when the format was within a current campaign with a dedicated ad set and budget.
Are you ready to start testing new formats?
Now that you know the benefits of testing new formats within the property industry. Our highly specialised paid social team at Space & Time have a wealth of experience rolling out successful testing strategies and are leaders in marketing in the property industry.
