Cas study
Green Acres, a leader in real estate searches for secondary homes in Europe, made a major shift in 2024 by rebranding and redesigning its user experience with an ambitious slogan: “Find your new life.”
To design a more lifestyle-driven property search experience, we surveyed 424 users across France, the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany. Results showed that 62% are flexible on location and 85% are open to buying abroad. Nature, calm, and outdoor activities like hiking or swimming are top priorities. These insights guided us in creating a search experience focused on lifestyle, not just property specs.
Since no existing platform offered a search based on lifestyle preferences rather than location or property features, we had no benchmarks — making the challenge both unique and complex.
Users can select various environments like mountains, sea, or a quiet, isolated setting. They can also filter properties based on proximity to specific activities like hiking, swimming, golf, or even cinema. The interface should allow for smooth and quick interaction, with a clear emphasis on the criteria and sorting options visible from the start of the search.
In just 30 days after launching our new interest-based search feature, we recorded over 715,000 sessions, with users spending an average of 39 seconds actively engaging with this new way of exploring properties. Among our logged-in users on Green-Acres.com, 1.85% have already saved a personalized interest-based search. Early trends show strong appeal: 49% of these users are drawn to low population density areas, 35% are seeking coastal locations, and 16% are dreaming of a home in the mountains.
With the Aspirational Search, Green Acres has not only transformed its real estate search model but also redefined user expectations for a lifestyle-centered experience. This project marks a turning point in the approach to online real estate searches, laying the foundation for a more authentic relationship between users and the properties they seek.