'it seems to require' is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you are making an observation about something that seems to need an action. For example: "The project seems to require a significant amount of work in order to be successful.”.
When your peace lily becomes too large for its pot, you may notice that it seems to require increasingly frequent watering and/or that its leaves turn yellow for no apparent reason.
"It seems to require more revenue to cover operating costs".
Conservatives may jib at the bureaucratic activism it seems to require.
The Third Molar Eruption Predictor may be applied to all panoramic radiographs, but it seems to require calibration before use.
Life as We Know It seems to require an almost miraculous juggling of a few atomic and astronomical parameters.
Accomplished knuckleballers manage to throw it once in a while, usually by accident — it seems to require a lone, slow rotation of the ball while in orbit.
Although it seemed to require an army of people to take the show, which included a choir and an orchestra, to Versailles, it's fair to say that Mr. Galliano was protecting his house.
Goff smiled approvingly for the principal, though it seemed to require a measure of wincing discomfort to do so, and, with a slight fluttering wave, summoned the students to join him up front.
"There was something so ridiculous about being asked to solve the problem of Hemingway's one-dimensional, if not outright racist, caricature of the drummer character in this scene, that it seemed to require an even more ridiculous solution.
When I started writing – like many, many others – I chose the short story, because it seemed to require minimal commitment and to be small enough to handle, even for me.
Others had suggested using eminent domain to seize mortgages — three years ago, twenty-seven Democrats in Congress urged the Treasury to institute a national program — but, because it seemed to require a huge government effort, no one had tried to put condemnation into action.
