Profile of Home Staging

Home Staging: Buyers' Agent Perspective

• 58% percent of buyers' agents cited that home staging had an effect on most buyers' view of the home most of the time, while 31% said that home staging has an effect, but not always.
• 81% percent of buyers' agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
• Staging the living room was found to be most important for buyers (39%), followed by staging the primary bedroom (36%), and staging the kitchen (30%).
• Among buyers’ agents, having photos (77%), traditional physical staging (58%), videos (74%), and virtual tours (42%) available for their listings was much more or more important to their clients.
• 20% of buyers' agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between 1% and 5%, compared to other similar homes on the market that were not staged.

Home Staging: Sellers' Agent Perspective

• 23% of sellers' agents said they staged all sellers' homes prior to listing them for sale. Ten percent noted that they only staged homes that were difficult to sell.
• The most common rooms that were staged included the living room (91 percent), kitchen (81%), primary bedroom (81%), and dining room (69%).
• It was most common for sellers' agents to use a staging service (24%). Sellers' agents also said that it depends on the situation (24%), and sellers' agents also personally offered to stage the home (22%).
• The median dollar value spent when using a staging service was $600, compared to $400 when the sellers' agent personally staged the home.
• When staging a home, 20% of sellers' agents reported an increase of 1% to 5% of the dollar value offered by buyers in comparison to similar homes.
• 27% of sellers' agents stated that there were slight decreases in the time on the market when the home was staged.
• Among sellers' agents, having photos (89%), traditional physical staging (44%), and videos (44%) available for their listings were much more or more important to their clients.

TV Influence and Buyer Expectations

• 81% of respondents said that buyers had ideas about where they wanted to live and what they wanted in an ideal home (76%) before starting the buying process.
• 44% of respondents stated that buyers typically thought the home buying process would be neither easy nor difficult.
• A median of 5% of respondents cited that buyers felt homes should look the way they were staged on TV shows.
• A median of 10% of respondents stated that buyers were disappointed by how homes looked compared to homes they saw on TV shows.
• A median of 20% of respondents cited that buyers brought family members with them to view homes.
• A median of 30% of respondents cited that buyers consulted with family members during the buying process.
• 24% of respondents said that TV shows which displayed the buying process impacted their business.
• 73% of respondents said that TV shows which display the buying process impacted their business by setting unrealistic expectations or increased expectations.
• In the last five years, 51% of respondents cited that they have seen an increase in the share of buyers who planned to remodel a home. A median of 25% of respondents said that buyers who plan to remodel will do so within the first three months of owning a home.
• 56% of respondents stated that buyers typically did not have an expectation of the number of homes they would see before buying.
• Among those who did have an expectation, buyers expected to view a median of seven homes in-person and a median of 12 homes virtually.
• 56% of respondents stated that buyers' expectations of the number of homes they saw before buying matched the market.

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