DAMAC Properties is the UAE’s leading property developer with a global footprint that includes
Dubai, Riyadh, Toronto, London, and Miami. DAMAC has delivered over 48,000 homes, with
more than 50,000 underway
PropVR specializes in immersive 3D visualization and virtual reality (VR) solutions for real estate. Based in Dubai, PropVR offers digital twin solutions for virtual sales, masterplan visualization, and smart city monitoring with high-fidelity digital environments.
PropVR is pioneering the creation of large-scale, photorealistic digital twins for cities, and has already modeled Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh with their procedural workflow, using 2D maps, geospatial (GIS) data, and street view imagery for enhanced realism. This approach enables rapid development, turning vast urban landscapes into immersive 3D models in days rather than months.
While city digital twins bring long-term gains for planning, infrastructure, and even tourism, real estate digital twins bring a more personal perspective—the ability to experience a future home or office space in immersive, realistic 3D before it’s built, and truly get a feel for what life or work will feel like for residents or tenants. These digital twins also give real estate developers a competitive edge by capitalizing on the novelty factor to generate deeper engagement from potential buyers during the sales process.
For DAMAC Properties, one of the top luxury real estate developers in the Middle East, this collaboration with PropVR has enabled the deployment of unique interactive experiences, powered by Unreal Engine. DAMAC was able to boost conversions from $24 million to $400 million, and improved their customer engagement by up to 400%.
For DAMAC Properties, one of the top luxury real estate developers in the Middle East, this collaboration with PropVR has enabled the deployment of unique interactive experiences, powered by Unreal Engine. DAMAC was able to boost conversions from $24 million to $400 million, and improved their customer engagement by up to 400%.
How PropVR made it happen
We spoke to Sunder Jagannathan, the Co-founder and CEO of PropVR, to get more details on the company’s approach to digital twins, and about the comprehensive digital twin project the company created for DAMAC.Courtesy of PropVR
Please tell us about your career background. What led you to found PropVR?
Jagannathan: My career has always been at the intersection of technology, architecture, and immersive experiences. Over the years, I’ve focused on blending advanced 3D technologies like Unreal Engine, XR, and AI with industries such as real estate and smart cities—creating new ways for people to visualize, interact with, and make better decisions about spaces.
At PropVR, I lead our strategy, innovation, and business growth, with a mission to scale digital twin solutions globally and redefine how environments are experienced.
Tell us about your view and vision for digital twins.
J: A digital twin, to me, is much more than a 3D model. It is a dynamic, data-driven replica of a physical asset or environment that allows for real-time interaction, monitoring, and insights. It bridges the physical and virtual worlds through data integration—empowering smarter decision-making and stakeholder collaboration.
At PropVR, we bring this vision to life by creating interactive, high-fidelity 3D environments with the future potential of integrating live data streams like IoT sensors, GIS layers, and AI analytics. Our approach helps stakeholders not just visualize but deeply understand and engage with their assets.
Courtesy of PropVR
What kinds of projects does PropVR work on?
J: PropVR is a spatial technology company focused on building immersive digital twins, real-time applications, and interactive 3D experiences across real estate, hospitality, aviation, and smart cities.
Over time, we’ve developed robust pipelines that allow companies to build and deploy these experiences faster across multiple platforms.
Whether it’s for virtual sales, masterplan visualization, or smart city twins, our focus remains on making data-rich environments explorable, interactive, and actionable.
Tell us more about the digital twins project for DAMAC. Why was creating a digital twin the right approach?
J: The DAMAC project involved creating a hyper-realistic digital twin of their master-planned communities to transform how they approach sales, marketing, and stakeholder engagement.
Traditional real estate sales often rely on static brochures and renders—but with a digital twin, DAMAC was able to offer interactive walkthroughs, real-time project updates, and immersive presentations. This approach enabled their teams to showcase projects globally, improve buyer confidence, and close deals more efficiently.
Today, DAMAC is one of the leading adopters of this technology in the region, actively scaling digital twins across their diverse portfolio that includes skyscrapers, communities, and branded residences.
Courtesy of PropVR
How does a digital twin help stakeholders explore the building?
J: The DAMAC digital twin has been designed as a next-generation engagement platform with several interactive features like interactive 3D navigation, AI-powered MetaHuman sales avatars, and customization of interior spaces.
Clients are able to explore the project across levels—from masterplan to location highlights, amenities, floor plans, unit layouts, and interior spaces—in an immersive, interactive format. The sales avatars offer opportunities for interactive sales conversations within the digital twin.
What if the digital twin needs to be customized or expanded?
The DAMAC digital twin environment is highly adaptable to customization, and for expansion to other types of sales content.
For one thing, the system is set up in such a way that sales teams can easily create custom animations and dynamic walkthroughs for presentations and social media. They can also repurpose and customize content for offline touchpoints like exhibitions, events, and sales galleries, ensuring a consistent buyer journey.
They can also use the same high-fidelity assets for browser-based experiences, maintaining quality across devices.
Courtesy of PropVR
What kinds of live, continuous data does the digital twin process in real time?
The digital twin connects directly with DAMAC’s inventory and CRM systems for real-time sales tracking and lead management. It also has the capability to integrate IoT sensor data—including environmental metrics, occupancy, lighting, and utilities—to enable operational twins for smarter asset management.
While the current focus is on interactive sales and visualization, the system has been architected to scale toward live data integration for operational and smart city use cases. Future upgrades will support live construction updates, phase tracking, and inventory management.
Wow, that’s a lot of features! What made Unreal Engine the right tool for developing this type of digital twin?
Unreal Engine provides the perfect balance of cinematic-quality visuals and real-time interactivity. Its capabilities in lighting realism, scalability, and multi-platform support—including VR, AR, web, and touchscreen—make it our go-to solution.
Additionally, Unreal’s flexibility has allowed us to build custom 3D pipelines that accelerate the creation, deployment, and optimization of these experiences across varied devices and channels.
Courtesy of PropVR
Can you walk us through the process of creating your digital twin solution, from import CAD data to final delivery?
J: Our creation process follows these structured stages:
- Data collection - Gather CAD drawings, elevation plans, drone captures, mood boards, and marketing materials.
- 3D modeling - Convert these inputs into detailed 3D models of interiors and exteriors.
- Environment building - Integrate models into Unreal Engine with lighting, materials, animations, and interactivity.
- Feature development - Add camera points of interest, guided tours, UI/UX layers, and data dashboards.
- Deployment optimization - Use our in-house pipeline to deploy across VR, AR, web, touchscreen displays, and high-end devices.
- Testing and quality assurance - Optimize for performance and compatibility across platforms.
- Final delivery - Deploy as standalone EXE, browser-based experience, VR/MR application, or streaming solution based on the use case.
How has this digital twin improved sales and marketing?
J: The DAMAC digital twin is part of a large technology stack that has had a transformative impact on sales and marketing. DAMAC reported a sales jump from $24 million to over $400 million, which can be attributed to buyers spending more time on this new interactive digital experience.
Buyer engagement increased by up to 400% across sales channels. The platform enabled global reach, allowing potential buyers to explore properties remotely with confidence.
Sales teams and agents also reported faster deal closures and stronger client relationships due to the immersive presentations.
Courtesy of PropVR
How do people experience the digital twin?
J: We offer the digital twin experience across multiple formats based on the audience and use case:
- Touchscreen applications (sales galleries)
- Pixel Streaming sales tool with video calling (web)
- Browser-based interactive platforms (remote scalability)
- VR and MR experiences (high-immersion investor or stakeholder demos)
- LED walls and experience centers (large-scale immersive walkthroughs)
- Holographic displays (for exhibitions and events)
The choice of platform depends on the context—buyers and sales teams typically use web and touchscreen versions, while government stakeholders and investors prefer VR and immersive formats.
What has been the reaction of prospective buyers?
J: Prospective tenants and investors have been highly impressed by the interactive and personalized experience. Being able to explore the project remotely, select units, view balcony options, and customize interiors has significantly enhanced their confidence in decision-making.
The customizability of the platform enables us to tailor the experience to:
- Buyers: Unit selection, interiors, views, and amenity exploration
- Investors: Development phases, ROI modeling, and construction progress
- Authorities: Compliance checks, infrastructure planning, and masterplan visualization
Courtesy of PropVR
What are the biggest learnings you gained while working on this project?
One of the biggest learnings was the power of interactive storytelling in real estate. Moving beyond static visuals to fully explorable environments dramatically changes buyer engagement and perception.
Another key insight was the need for ease of content updates—enabling marketing and sales teams to manage inventory changes, pricing, and availability without requiring technical intervention.
What do you see for the future of digital twins?
J: I believe digital twins will evolve into living, connected ecosystems where real-time data, AI insights, and immersive experiences seamlessly converge.
In the next five years, we expect that digital twins will play a critical role in smart building operations, sustainability, and energy management, and they will extend beyond sales into asset management, predictive maintenance, and urban planning. With advancements in AI, procedural generation, and automation, creating and scaling digital twins will become faster, cost-effective, and accessible to more industries.
At PropVR, we’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible—shaping the future of how environments are visualized, experienced, and managed.