How to Create a Real Estate Listings App (2026)
Create a real estate app for your agency: listings with photos, a map search, saved homes, viewings in Calendar and enquiries to agents, built with Borel.
By Sigsten Gustavii· · 9 min read
To create a real estate app, decide whose listings it shows and who keeps them up to date, describe the buyer and agent screens to an AI builder like Borel (or paste your agency's website), test a search-to-enquiry path on a live iPhone, then publish it under your agency's Apple Developer account.
| Kind | Whose listings | Where they come from |
|---|---|---|
| An agency's own app | Your agency's homes for sale or rent | Your agents add them in the app |
| A rental or room-share board | Landlords and tenants post | People post them, with moderation |
| A portal with every home in an area | Everyone's | A licensed data feed, such as an MLS, through an API |
The agency's own app is the easiest to build and the most useful to most agencies: your listings, your brand and your agents, in an app buyers keep on their phone during a search that can last months. The second is a small marketplace. The third is mostly a data licensing question, not an app question. This guide builds the agency app and explains what the other two add.
What a real estate app needs
| Part | What it does | How Borel builds it |
|---|---|---|
| Listings | Price, rooms, size, address, description | A listings table anyone can browse, only agents can change |
| Photo gallery | Swipe through photos and a floor plan | Photos in the app's file storage, shown full screen |
| Map search | See homes as pins, search an area | Apple Maps with a pin per listing |
| Filters and search | Price, rooms, type, area, keywords | Filters and a search field over descriptions |
| Saved homes and searches | Keep favourites, come back later | Saves only their owner can see |
| Viewings | Book a slot, add it to Calendar | Viewing times, added to the iPhone's Calendar |
| Enquiries | Ask the agent a question | Private conversations between the buyer and the listing's agent |
| Mortgage calculator | Monthly cost from price, deposit and rate | Worked out on the phone, no data sent anywhere |
All of it lives in Borel Cloud, the database, sign-in and file storage Borel runs for the app, with an access rule on every table. Buyers can browse without an account and only need one to save homes or send an enquiry.
Where the listings come from
This decides more about your app than any screen. Three honest options:
- Your agents add them. An agent signs in, takes photos with the camera or picks them from the photo library, fills in the details and publishes. Simple, and the listings are yours.
- Import from your system. If your listing software has an API, save its key under Tools, in Keys. Borel keeps it encrypted, calls the service from its own server, and the app shows what comes back. Test this carefully; every system's data is shaped differently.
- A licensed portal or MLS feed. Showing everyone's listings means a data agreement with whoever owns them, often restricted to members. Sort out the licence before the app.
Map search and location
Buyers search by place, so the map is the heart of the app. Borel apps use Apple Maps, with no map key and no map bill. Ask for pins coloured by price, a list under the map that follows what is visible, and "homes near me" using the phone's location, which the app asks for only when someone taps that button. A listing page can open directions to a viewing in Apple Maps.
Be careful with exact addresses for homes that are rented out or occupied: many agencies show the street only until a viewing is booked.
Viewings, calendar and reminders
Viewings are where an app beats a website. A buyer picks a slot, and the app adds it to the iPhone's own Calendar with the address in the location field, asking only for permission to add events. A reminder an hour before, scheduled on the phone, cuts no-shows. Agents see their bookings in a list. Borel apps don't send push notifications, so a new enquiry shows when the agent opens the app.
Rentals and room shares: when the public posts
A board where landlords and tenants post their own listings is a small marketplace, and it changes three things:
- Moderation. Listings and messages are user-generated content, so Apple's Guideline 1.2 asks for a way to report them, block people and filter what is posted. Borel's moderation kit adds Report and Block to every listing and message, and checks text before it is posted.
- Scams. Rental boards attract fake listings. Ask for a rule that new posters' listings wait for your approval, and never let the app ask for deposits.
- Payments. Rent is paid outside the app, never with Apple's in-app purchase. A paid "featured listing" for landlords is digital and goes through Apple.
Read how to create a marketplace app for the full two-sided picture.
App Store rules for real estate apps
| Guideline | What Apple asks | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 4.2 Minimum functionality | More than a repackaged website | Native map search, saves, viewings and enquiries |
| 1.2 User-generated content | Filter, report, block and contact details | Needed if landlords or the public post listings; Borel's moderation kit adds them |
| 5.1.5 Location services | Use location only when relevant | Ask on "homes near me", not on start |
| 5.1.1(v) Account deletion | Delete account in the app | Built into every Borel app with accounts |
| 5.1.1(i) Privacy policy | A link in the app and on the listing | Borel hosts one and links it |
Guideline 4.2 is the one that catches agencies: an app that only shows your website in a frame is often turned down. Read the full text on Apple's App Review Guidelines page. Property advertising also has its own laws in most countries, including fair housing rules in some; follow the ones where you operate.
What a real estate app costs
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Borel Free | $0 | 5 credits a day to build and try it in your browser |
| Borel Pro | From $20 a month | Install on agents' iPhones and publish to the App Store |
| Apple Developer Program | $99 a year | Paid to Apple; listed under your agency |
| Running the app | Pay as you go | Listings and photos, from a balance you top up |
| A data feed | Set by the provider | Only if you show listings from outside your agency |
| An agency-built app | Most projects $10,000 to $49,999 (Clutch, 2026) | Clutch's average across all apps is $90,780 |
For an agency, $339 a year on Borel's lowest monthly tier plus Apple's fee is less than one property photo shoot. See pricing.
How to choose the right real estate app builder
- Borel, for your agency's own native iPhone app with map search, saved homes, viewings in Calendar and enquiries, built from a description or your website.
- [CatDoes](/compare/catdoes), if Android buyers matter as much as iPhone ones; it builds React Native apps for both stores.
- [FlutterFlow](/compare/flutterflow), if a developer will connect a complex listings feed by hand.
- A portal listing, if you only want reach and don't need your own brand on buyers' phones.
| Builder | What it makes | Maps | App Store from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Borel | Native SwiftUI for iPhone and iPad | Apple Maps, no key | $20 a month |
| CatDoes | React Native for iPhone and Android | See its own documentation | $42 a month |
| FlutterFlow | Flutter for iPhone and Android | Google Maps with your key | $39 a month |
| Xcode by hand | Native Swift | Apple Maps | Free tools and a Mac |
Prices are each company's lowest plan that publishes to the App Store, from their pricing pages in October 2026.
How to do it with Borel, step by step
Step 1: Start from your website or a description
Paste your agency's website into Borel's website to iPhone app and it reads your name, colours, logo and content, or describe the app in your own words.
Step 2: Describe the buyer and agent screens
Make a listings app for Hav & Hem, an estate agency in Gothenburg. Anyone can browse homes for sale: a map with price pins and a list below it, filters for price, rooms, size and area, and a keyword search. A listing shows a swipeable photo gallery, floor plan, price, rooms, size, monthly fee, description and the agent. Buyers sign in with email to save homes, save a search, book a viewing slot (added to their iPhone Calendar with a reminder an hour before) and message the agent. Add a mortgage calculator on each listing. Agents sign in to add and edit their listings with photos, see bookings and reply to messages. Show only the street until a viewing is booked.Borel's planner, Penny, asks about anything unclear, then Rivet writes the app in Swift with SwiftUI and Xcode compiles it on Borel's Mac. Nobody at the agency needs a Mac.
Step 3: Add your real listings
On the live iPhone in your browser, sign in as an agent and add five real homes with photos. Then search, save, book and enquire as a buyer, and check the agent sees the booking and the message.
Step 4: Test on real phones
With Pro, Borel Companion installs the app on agents' iPhones from a Windows PC or a Mac, so they can photograph homes directly. Give it to a few buyers you know through TestFlight.
Step 5: Publish
Stamp checks the app for the rules Apple most often turns apps down for, and Publish builds, signs and uploads it under your agency's Apple Developer account, with demo buyer and agent accounts for the reviewer.
The Bottom Line
A home search lasts months, and an app buyers keep on their phone keeps your agency in it. With Borel, the listings, map search, saved homes, viewings in Calendar, mortgage calculator and enquiries come from one description, natively on iPhone and under your brand. Start with your own listings; add feeds when there is a licence behind them. Paste your website into Borel and see your homes on a live iPhone today.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to build a real estate app?
With Borel, from $20 a month for Pro plus Apple's $99 a year and small cloud costs. Clutch's 2026 data puts most agency-built app projects at $10,000 to $49,999.
Can I show MLS or portal listings in my app?
Only with a licence from whoever owns the data, usually through an API. Save the key under Tools, in Keys, and Borel calls the service from its server. Many agencies start with their own listings.
Can I make a real estate app without coding?
Yes. Describe the screens, or paste your website, and Borel writes the Swift app, the database and the agent tools. Changes are plain messages.
Do buyers need an account?
No, browsing and searching work without one. An account is needed to save homes, book viewings and message an agent, and buyers can delete it from settings.
Can buyers add a viewing to their calendar?
Yes. The app adds the viewing to the iPhone's Calendar with Apple's EventKit and schedules a reminder on the phone.
Can agents add listings from their phone?
Yes. An agent signs in, takes photos with the camera or picks them from the library, fills in the details and publishes the listing to the app.
Does the app need Google Maps?
No. Borel apps use Apple Maps through Apple's MapKit, so there is no map key and no map bill.
Will Apple approve a real estate app?
Apple approves apps with real native features. One that only wraps the agency's website is often turned down under Guideline 4.2, which is why map search, saves, viewings and enquiries matter.
I started Borel because I wanted to make iPhone apps without a Mac or a team behind me. If this helped you build something, I would love to see it.
– Sigsten
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