Gen Z uses AI for homebuying homework, but still insists on realtors for closing

Gen Z is doing homebuying homework with AI, and it is already affecting who gets trusted with what. A Bank of America Institute study found that about a third of Gen Zers used AI tools in the past 12 months for homebuying research, including learning the process generally and digging into specific neighborhoods or property values, according to the report.

The twist is that this AI-forward behavior does not replace humans where the stakes get legal. More than half of prospective buyers in the same study prefer to turn to a human for things like tours and legal or contractual advice. Translation: AI is becoming the front end of the decision, while real people remain the back end when documents, inspections, and coordination can make or break a transaction.

Graham Paterson, CEO of Jitty, an AI-fueled real estate search engine based in the U.K., argues that Gen Z’s openness is partly about trust patterns. “Gen Z is just naturally that much more distrusting, and because they don't know the home buying process, they're much more likely to look for answers in something like AI,” Paterson told Fortune. In other words, it is not that Gen Z loves algorithms and hates experts. It is that they are navigating an opaque, multi-party process, so they lean on AI to get clarity fast.

Jitty’s growth suggests that this research habit has real demand. Since Paterson started the platform just over two years ago, it has grown between 30% to 80% month on month, and it recently crossed 3 million visitors on its website. Paterson said many customers are Gen Z or young millennials, and he framed the reaction as immediate and almost obvious: “Gen Z, and younger millennials respond by saying, ‘I can't believe this doesn't exist already like obviously this is just a better way of doing it.’” Meanwhile, older buyers are more skeptical, asking “But does it work? But does it miss things? But does it make mistakes?” That split matters because it shapes adoption, messaging, and which features become table stakes versus nice-to-haves.

This is also not happening in isolation. Fortune notes that Gen Z is already more likely than older generations to use AI for therapy, medical advice, and financial and investment decisions. The article ties that to a Gallup survey from April, which found just over half of Gen Zers use AI at least weekly. The through-line for executives is behavior: when a generation gets trained by personalization, it expects personalized answers everywhere, especially in high-cost moments.

Paterson offered a plain-English reason grounded in how users experience digital products. He pointed to TikTok’s algorithmic customization and Spotify’s music playlists as examples of platforms that seem to read minds. If your daily tools already feel tailored, homebuying research can feel like the next logical place to “apply the same system.” And Jitty’s own positioning reflects that: it uses AI to help people find homes based on exact specifications or on looser prompts like “A house with a big garden and sea views.”

But the closing process is where the AI hype bumps into reality. Housing is not just search and compare. The closing requires coordination among real estate agents, attorneys, inspectors, loan officers, and insurance brokers. That means legal or contractual advice, plus timing and cross-party accountability. Even buyers who lean heavily on AI still want humans in their corner at that stage.

A real-world voice of that boundary comes from Jessica Li, a real estate agent for Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty, who told Fortune that AI can help her keep clients in the loop during closing, but humans remain essential. She said a competent real estate agent could mean the difference between securing a concession worth thousands of dollars versus paying full asking price. She also pointed to the practical complexity of dealing with inspectors, appraisers, and banks, and delivered the most brutally honest line in the story: “Housing is a tangible thing,” she said. “Until we have all the robots, I think, we'll be important.”

For decision-makers in proptech, mortgage, brokerage, or legal services, the strategic stake is clear. The winning model may not be “replace agents with AI,” but “offload the research and routing to AI, then strengthen human roles where liability, interpretation, and negotiation live.” If you serve buyers, the pressure is to meet them where their trust is. If you serve intermediaries, the pressure is to redesign workflows so agents and attorneys can spend less time on information hunting and more time on the few moments that still require human accountability. Gen Z is training the market to expect AI everywhere. Closing is training the market to keep humans where it counts.