Rather than blindly buying off the plan, Australians can now take a virtual walk through their new homes while they're still on the drawing board.

Virtual reality is bringing yet-to-be-built housing developments to life in several display suites around Melbourne, including the Pace Development Group's luxury apartment block in the suburb of Carnegie. Potential buyers can don an HTC Vive VR headset and walk through a virtual apartment, as well as explore the proposed communal outdoor area on the roof, complete with an infinity pool.

Have a virtual seat, enjoy the virtual view. Credit:VR

The VR mechanics cover three square metres in the Carnegie showroom, with users able to walk around to explore a virtual two-bedroom apartment rather than merely standing still and looking from side to side. The headset's video cable hangs from the ceiling to keep it out of the way, while a floating barrier appears in the virtual world to warn people when they're approaching a real-world wall.

Bystanders in the showroom can watch the view from the headset via a 65-inch television hanging on the wall. This tends to draw in the crowds, says co-founder of digital production studio Kasa Digital, Dexter Eugenio. The company partnered with architectural visualisation group 4dstudio to develop the VR walk-throughs for the property developers.