Why 1 In 3 Gen Z Lets AI Hunt For Homes… And Still Pays Realtors Thousands

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(SeaPRwire) –   By: Lucas Caldwell

Gen Z doesn’t do homebuying the way their parents did. They don’t call a realtor first and beg for access to exclusive listings. They don’t scroll through 10 different generic broker websites to sort through what they want. They just turn to AI, the same tool they use for everything from homework to dating advice. This isn’t a small niche experiment. It’s a generational shift that’s already reshaping how the global real estate industry operates.

Bank of America Institute’s latest study says one third of Gen Z used AI for homebuying research in the last 12 months. Gallup’s April survey adds that just over half of all Gen Z uses AI at least weekly. That habit spills across every big decision, from therapy to investment picks. U.K. AI real estate search platform Jitty has ridden this wave directly. It launched just over two years ago, and grows 30 to 80 percent month over month. It just hit 3 million total website visitors, and most of its users are Gen Z or young millennials.

Graham Paterson, Jitty’s CEO, breaks down the clear generational divide. Older buyers default to trusting human experts and question AI’s accuracy. Gen Z defaults to trusting AI and is far more skeptical of established experts. Paterson says Gen Z’s broad distrust of institutions pushes them to AI for answers. They grew up with hyper-personalized algorithms from TikTok and Spotify. They expect any digital service to adapt to their exact wants, not the other way around. Even open-ended requests like “a house with a big garden and sea views” work seamlessly.

The split we see here isn’t unique to the real estate industry. It’s a clear template for how AI will reshape every service industry over the next decade. AI takes over the repetitive, information-heavy grunt work that used to be the first point of contact for human professionals. It lowers the barrier for entry for users who can’t afford or don’t want to talk to a human upfront. It filters out casual researchers from serious buyers ready to transact. It absorbs all the work that used to pay junior agents and brokers steady entry-level paychecks.

What’s most interesting here is that Gen Z doesn’t cut humans out of the process entirely. The BofA study found more than half of all buyers still want a human for the final stages of a deal. Closing a home deal means coordinating with attorneys, inspectors, loan officers and insurance brokers. It means negotiating concessions that can save buyers thousands of dollars off asking price. There’s still no AI that can read a room or push back on a stubborn seller’s agent the way a veteran realtor can. That’s why even the most AI-reliant buyers still want a human in their corner.

Within five years, 80% of front-end real estate customer acquisition will be controlled by AI-powered search platforms.

Author bio: Lucas Caldwell, tech opinion leader with millions of followers on X covering AI consumer adoption trends.