Lemon and Lime Interiors partnered on the annual Voice of the Agent Survey (https://tinyurl.com/thevoiceoftheagent), which gathered data from 2,000 consumers countrywide to find out what service offerings sellers felt were most important for an estate agent to offer. The study was conducted by marketing consultancy We Are Unchained, with consumer research by market researcher Opinium.
The significant rise in demand comes amid trending Netflix shows such as Selling Sunset and spin-offs including Selling the OC and Selling Beverly Hills. These have sparked mass interest from wealthy homeowners in utilising American-style stagers to help sell their homes in a slowed property market.
Established in the property marketing process in the United States, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reports that 20% of sellers’ agents achieve a 1% to 5% increase in the dollar value buyers offer for staged homes compared to similar unstaged homes. 81% of buyer’s agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualise the property as a future home.
Even though staging is currently an underutilised service in the UK by agents and consumers alike, the data showed that around 10% of consumers opted for ‘providing a home staging service’ as a need. This implied that if the agent supply (telling people about home staging) met consumer demand, the industry would experience significant growth overnight, dramatically aiding the sale of homes UK-wide.
Elaine Penhaul, founder of Lemon and Lime Interiors, said, “This is a significant demand for staging that the industry can’t afford to ignore. Staging as a concept helps houses sell faster and at better prices, presenting a promising opportunity for the entire property market”.
“The Estate Agents Act 1979 regulates the work of an estate agent. Its purpose is to ensure that an agent works in the client’s best interests, and this survey has suggested that current market conditions are not effectively doing that.”
In the UK, The Home Staging Association reports that non-staged properties stay on the market for an average of 99 days, compared to 44 days for staged homes, suggesting that staging effectively accelerates sales. Home staging is gaining popularity, with one prominent designer seeing a 51% increase in demand for staging services in 2023.
Ranking in the top three most significant factors when considering an agent, a staggering 46% of consumers and 71% of vendors voted ‘professional photography and videography’ as a service that was an absolute necessity when choosing an agent. Supporting this, 44% of vendors and 17% of consumers said a ‘virtual tour of their property’ was necessary when selling or choosing an agent.
Elaine Penhaul added, “Professional photography and virtual video tours are a lot less effective without home staging. This further highlights that staging is a crucial part of the selling process but has so much untapped potential currently”.
“Effectively, home staging is the process of highlighting your property’s most valuable assets, ensuring a strong first impression, and striking a chord with a buyer—this is usually through evoking an emotional connection or helping them envisage a lifestyle in a potential home“.
“Home staging fuses decorating, decluttering, reorganisation, room presentation and marketing to enable buyers to imagine themselves within the home. It’s about creating a lifestyle and an emotional connection to the home”.
The property owner of a staged flat in The Offices, Chris England, said: “My property was unloved and in a state of disrepair after being rented for a long period of time. I launched it with an agent and only saw one viewing in six months!”
“I instructed Lemon and Lime, and they completely redecorated the property, staged with furniture, and the new agent revitalised the marketing with photos and video. We have put the property back on the market, and so far, we’ve had five viewings in the last two weeks, and we’re getting fantastic feedback. The staging has allowed us to revitalise the marketing strategy completely, and without Lemon and Lime, it wouldn’t have been feasible. I’m blown away by what they have achieved.“
Earlier this year, Lemon and Lime conducted its own survey with Opinium, which had 2,000 participants. The survey found that, on average, around 45% of property purchase decision-making is mostly or partially based on ‘love at first sight’.
Love at first sight translates from a home’s first listing on Rightmove or the estate agent’s window to the initial viewing. With people expecting to buy a home only around three times in their lives, it is imperative that agents and owners consider visual appeal and ensuring a strong first impression as a principal factor in securing a buyer—who could be willing to make an offer faster and even for more money.
Greg Perrins from Fine and Country said: “Offering home staging as part of our bespoke services has not only set us apart from the competition but has also established us as a trusted partner in the eyes of our clients. It’s a win-win situation – our clients benefit from enhanced property presentation, more exposure and quicker sales while we solidify our reputation as a top-tier agency committed to delivering exceptional results.”
In 2023, the properties staged and sold by Lemon and Lime Interiors averaged just 15 days to the first acceptable offer and, on average, sold four times faster and often higher than the original asking value.
