How to Market a New-Build Development: The Guide for Property Developers

A new-build development does not sell because the flats are beautiful, but because the right people hear about it early and can enquire without detours. This guide shows how we market new-build developments digitally at ad.boutique in Vienna and Zurich: from presales before construction to the last remaining flats, with figures from five real projects.

In short: how to market a new-build development digitally

Marketing a new-build development digitally means creating demand, capturing it with a fast project page and handing every enquiry to sales without delay. The system has five parts:

1. Project landing page: a dedicated page per project that loads on a phone in a few seconds.
2. Campaigns on Meta and Google: Meta creates demand, Google captures active search.
3. Short forms: an Instant Form or a form on the page, with two or three qualifying questions.
4. Lead routing: every enquiry lands immediately with the right contact in sales or with the estate agent.
5. Measurement through to reservation: what counts are qualified enquiries, viewings and reservations, not clicks.

Performance marketing is advertising steered by a measurable result, here the qualified enquiry. How we deliver this as a service is described under Performance Marketing.

The three phases

Every new-build development goes through three marketing phases, and each needs a different message. Running the same campaign in all three phases wastes budget.

Before construction: presales

Presales are sales before construction begins, and they often decide how smoothly a project is financed. In this phase there is nothing to view, so visualisations, location and the project page carry the whole load. Those who buy early get the best choice; that is the strongest argument of this phase.

For the Vienna project Noma, we built brand, website with flat finder and campaigns from a single source and achieved around 40% presales in 3 months, digital only. How to plan this phase in detail is described in the article Presales for new builds.

During construction

During construction, the vision becomes tangible, and that is exactly what belongs in the campaigns. Construction progress, a show flat or the view from the shell are content that builds trust. At the same time, the choice shrinks, and you can show that honestly.

In this phase, the viewing becomes more important. Online appointment booking replaces the call-back lottery and shortens the path from enquiry to appointment.

After completion: remaining flats

After completion, a project sells through availability, not visions. The message is: finished, open for viewing, ready to move in. Real photos replace renderings.

At Bella Vita in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, commission-free freehold flats were on sale, for a target group that usually rents. The answer was a clear positioning ("arriving"), a Google text library and Meta campaigns with garden, quiet location and living space.

The building blocks

The building blocks of a new-build funnel can each be measured and improved individually. A funnel is the path a prospect travels from the ad to the conversation with sales. Which building blocks you need depends on phase and target group.

Project landing page

A project landing page is a dedicated page for exactly one project, built for people who arrive via an ad. It has one promise, a price range, floor plans, a form and appointment booking. The developer's portfolio website does not replace it, because it speaks for many projects and offers no clear action.

The most important factor is speed. At Noma, the project page was far too slow on a phone at first. The biggest lever in the project was therefore not a new creative but load time. Almost all prospects come via mobile, and a slow page loses them before they see the first floor plan. How we build such pages is shown under the service Landing pages and funnels.

Flat finder and quiz

A flat finder is an overview of all units with filters for size, floor, outdoor space and availability. It answers every prospect's first question: is there something here for me? A quiz is the shorter version: three or four questions on size, budget range and timing, followed by suitable flats and a form.

Both tools qualify along the way. Someone who clicks on a three-room flat with a garden in the flat finder and then enquires is a different contact from someone who just wants "info".

Instant Forms

An Instant Form is a form directly in the Meta app that pre-fills with profile data and is submitted without changing page. It often lowers the cost per enquiry significantly, but delivers less context. For WINEGG, dedicated project sites brought higher-quality enquiries than instant forms alone.

You will find the detailed comparison with figures under Instant Form or landing page.

Viewing booking

Viewing booking lets prospects choose an appointment directly instead of waiting for a call back. That is not a detail. Many enquiries cannot be reached on the first call-back attempt. Someone who chooses an appointment themselves is reachable and more committed.

Valuation funnel for owners

A valuation funnel is a path in which property owners have the value of their property estimated and get in touch along the way. For new-build developments, it is interesting when buyers first have to sell their existing flat, or when developers and agents also broker existing properties. It is an optional extra, not a required part.

Channels

For new-build developments, Meta and Google are not either-or but a pair. Meta creates demand among people who are not yet actively searching. Google Search captures those searching for a project, district or flat type.

Meta: creating demand

Meta is the volume channel for new-build developments, because it reaches the people who will buy in six to twelve months but are not searching yet today. The structure stays lean: few campaigns, broad audiences, many visuals in the test. Details on structure, creatives and the housing special ad category are described in the article Facebook ads for real estate.

At Seeresidenz Gmunden, enquiries were targeted across Austria rather than regionally, because second homes and investment properties by a lake rarely come from the neighbourhood. For the premium new build Funkhaus in Vienna, 1,246 enquiries came via Meta since launch.

Google Search: capturing active search

Google Search captures the demand that Meta and other channels have created. Anyone searching for the project name, "Neubau 1070 Wien" (new build, Vienna 7th district) or "flat with garden" has a concrete intention. For WINEGG, Google brought 1,108 conversions at €4.95 each for The Arik project, at a conversion rate of 8.38 %.

Working with estate agents

In most projects, digital campaigns do not replace the estate agent; they feed them. What matters is that every enquiry lands with the right agency immediately and that feedback on quality comes back. At Bella Vita, every enquiry goes automatically to one of the two agencies, and the notes from the phone calls flow back into the campaigns.

How the path from form to agent works without losses is described in the article Lead routing for real estate.

Budget: how much and where

You calculate the advertising budget for a new-build development backwards from the goal, not as a percentage of the project volume. The logic has four steps:

1. Set the goal: how many reservations or purchase contracts should come from digital channels in what period?
2. Estimate the funnel: how many qualified enquiries does your sales team typically need for one viewing, and how many viewings for one reservation? Your sales team knows these values better than any agency.
3. Work out the enquiries: goal and funnel give you the number of enquiries you need.
4. Multiply by the cost per enquiry: for the start, use a cautious assumption and replace it with real values from testing after two to four weeks.

For orientation, our cases show what was possible: for Noma, the ad budget on Meta was around €1,000 a month; for Rohr Real Estate, 48 enquiries came in the first 14 campaign days at €9.10 each; for WINEGG, 215 enquiries in the last 30 days. These are past values under specific conditions, not a promise.

Spread the budget broadly across several visuals and both target groups at first, then strictly by cost per qualified enquiry. A fixed share for Google Search secures active demand as soon as the project name and location become known.

Geo-targeting: how wide to go?

The target region of a new-build development is usually larger than the developer first assumes. At Seeresidenz Gmunden, the target group was Austria-wide, because second homes and investment properties by a lake rarely come from the region. For the premium new build in Vienna, a broad approach across several districts proved effective, rather than committing early to one milieu.

Our rule of thumb: owner-occupiers first in the city and its surroundings, investors wider, and narrow or widen the region after the first weeks based on the data. We only recommend expanding abroad when the home market no longer delivers at a sustainable price.

Addressing owner-occupiers and investors separately

Owner-occupiers and investors are two markets, even if they buy the same flat. Owner-occupiers buy quality of life: light, layout, school, green space. Investors buy location, lettability and predictability.

That is why both get their own campaigns, their own visuals and their own form questions. For WINEGG, the angles for investors and owner-occupiers run separately, with dedicated project sites instead of instant forms alone.

Important with investors: we do not advertise with returns. Advertising with concrete yield expectations raises expectations nobody can guarantee. More on this in the article Separating owner-occupiers and investors.

Creatives that bring enquiries

In real estate campaigns, the strongest creative is the biggest lever, not the biggest budget. A creative is the individual ad asset, meaning image, video or carousel with copy. Testing four visuals and consistently shifting the budget to the winner usually lowers the cost per enquiry more than any audience setting.

One strong visual instead of many weak ones

In our projects, a single visual often carries most of the enquiries. For the premium new build in Vienna, an enquiry via the best creative cost €4.70, and with the new generation of creatives the cost per enquiry fell by 48 %.

That does not mean you only need one visual. It means you have to test several to find the one. Once the winner is clear, the budget flows there.

Formats and content

These are the formats we use most often for new-build developments:

• Interior visualisation: living space with light and a view. For the premium new build, interior beat every exterior view.
• Location and lifestyle: district, neighbourhood, routes. The feel of the district beats generic new-build language.
• Floor plan with collage: factual, for people who are already comparing.
• Short video or talking head: for investors and for projects that need explaining.
• Real photos: after completion, instead of renderings.

We build the visuals with our team for Content Production. AI helps us test more variations faster; final creatives are curated by people and labelled where the law requires it (for example realistic AI depictions of people).

Metrics that count

The most important metric in real estate marketing is the qualified enquiry, not the click and not the lead as such. A qualified enquiry is a contact who fits the project: the right flat size, a realistic budget, a suitable time horizon and reachable.

Two numbers are missing in many reports: the match between ad account and inbox, and sales' time to first contact. We clarify this difference before optimising.

Time to first contact is the time between enquiry and first conversation with sales. It belongs in the reporting because it directly affects campaign quality: a good enquiry that sits for three days becomes a bad one. If many enquiries are marked "contact again" in the system, the answer is rarely a bigger budget, but a different funnel with appointment booking.

So that Meta and Google learn which enquiries are valuable, we send qualified enquiries and reservations from the CRM back to the platforms. That way, the algorithms optimise for people who come to viewings, rather than people who just fill in forms.

Figures from five projects

The following values come from our cases and are media costs per enquiry, not our fee. They show ranges, not a promise for your project.

What these projects have in common: a dedicated funnel per project, separate target groups, systematic testing of visuals and reporting that reaches all the way to sales.

Typical mistakes

Most new-build campaigns do not fail because of the budget, but because of the path after the click. These are the mistakes we see most often:

1. Starting too late. Advertising only from the start of construction loses the presales phase and with it the time to test.
2. A slow project page. A page that loads slowly on mobile costs more enquiries than any weak creative.
3. A portfolio website instead of a project page. The campaign leads to a page with ten projects and no clear form.
4. One campaign for everyone. Owner-occupiers and investors get the same message, and both feel only half addressed.
5. Visuals chosen by taste instead of numbers. The management's favourite rendering gets the budget, not the visual with the cheapest qualified enquiries.
6. No follow-up. Enquiries sit in the inbox for a day. The Bella Vita project management put it this way: social media leads have to be contacted at very short notice.
7. Only the platform figure. Meta reports leads, fewer arrive in the CRM. Without matching, you optimise for a number that is not true.

When digital marketing is not enough

Digital campaigns cannot rescue a project with the wrong price, a weak location or an unsuitable flat mix. They make visible how the market reacts, and quickly. Sometimes the most honest recommendation after four weeks of testing is to work on the product or the price list rather than the budget.

Checklist for the start

Before the first campaign starts, these points should be done:

• ☐ Interior and exterior visualisations, at least one strong interior visual
• ☐ Floor plans and price list or price range per flat type
• ☐ Project landing page, fast on mobile, with form and appointment booking
• ☐ Flat finder or quiz with availability
• ☐ Target groups defined: owner-occupiers, investors or both separately
• ☐ Qualifying form questions agreed (size, timing, financing)
• ☐ Lead routing: who gets which enquiry, within what time
• ☐ Tracking with consent, conversions to Meta and Google
• ☐ Definition of "qualified enquiry" agreed with sales
• ☐ Reporting that shows enquiries, viewings and reservations
• ☐ Privacy notices for passing data on to sales and estate agents

How we work at ad.boutique in Vienna and Zurich

We market new-build developments from Vienna and Zurich, with our office on Tegetthoffstraße in Vienna, for developers in Vienna, across Austria and in Switzerland. We start with a proof of concept over 12 weeks, for which we agree a metric in advance, usually qualified enquiries or reservations. The details of the process are on the page How we work.

This is what it looks like in practice:

1. Weeks 1 to 2: define goal, target groups and metric, set up project page and tracking, produce the first visuals.
2. Weeks 3 to 8: test visuals and angles, evaluate and reallocate every Monday, match the ad account against the CRM.
3. From week 9: scale the winners, improve the funnel, feed sales feedback into the campaigns.

You see all figures live on our platform boutique.OS, including a lead CRM with routing to sales and estate agents. More on our approach for developers on the page Real estate marketing agency.

Further reading

• Presales: selling new-build flats before construction starts
• Instant Form or landing page? Real estate leads compared
• Owner-occupiers and investors: separating real estate ads properly
• Handing real estate leads to estate agents: routing without losses
• Facebook and Instagram ads for real estate: setup and creatives
• Marketing new builds in Vienna: lessons from four Vienna projects