WASHINGTON – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) — Home staging strategies such as clearing the clutter and optimizing the decor can pave the way to a higher sales price in a shorter time.
The National Association of Realtors, in its newly published “2025 Profile of Home Staging,” has underscored the largely positive influences of staging a home before its owners put the residence on the sales block.
To real estate professionals and would-be home buyers and sellers, staging involves decluttering, depersonalizing, general spiffing up and typically adding eye-catching decor to make a dwelling more appealing to potential buyers.
The goal is to highlight the residence’s most attractive features, downplay its weaknesses, add or accentuate curb appeal and create a positive, inviting atmosphere designed to entice would-be purchasers to seal the deal.
The NAR document’s overall evaluation explains the role home staging plays in real estate transactions, including perspectives from home buyers’ and sellers’ agents, home buyer expectations and the influence of real estate TV shows on the buying and selling process.
Right at the top, the NAR analysis discloses that nearly three out of 10 (29%) real estate agents find that staging their sellers’ homes resulted in a 1% to 10% increase in the dollar amount offered to purchase the dwelling when compared to similar, un-staged homes.
Staging can reduce days on the market
Also, just about half (49%) of home sellers’ agents reported that home staging reduced the length of time that for-sale dwellings spent on the market.
The essence of staging, says the NAR study, is to make a dwelling look like something a potential buyer could call home while minimizing the personal “lived-in” look of a domicile that’s been a household’s own “home sweet home” for years – perhaps a decade or more.
“The typical home seller resides in their home for 10 years before selling,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research. “During that time, homeowners might overlook certain aspects that could be less appealing to potential buyers. By staging a home, agents who are Realtors strategically highlight the best features, ensuring that sellers receive the most-competitive offers.”
The impact of staging can range from dramatic to minor. Sixty percent of home buyers’ real estate agents explained that home staging had an impact on some home buyers, but not always, says NAR’s report.
Meanwhile, 26% of agents said home staging had an effect on most buyers’ perspective of the residence and only 12% indicated that home staging had no effect on would-be buyers’ views.
A majority (83%) of home buyers’ real estate agents said staging achieved its goal of making it easier for a buyer to envision the property as their future residence. Home buyers’ agents reported that staging would positively impact the home value if it were decorated to match buyers’ tastes (32%) and buyers were more willing to walk through a home they had already seen online (31%).
Living room is most important area to stage
NAR notes that some rooms lend themselves better to staging than others. For home buyers, staging the living room was considered the most important (37%) followed closely by the primary bedroom (34%) and the kitchen (23%). By contrast, staging the guest bedroom (7%) was deemed least important.
The most commonly staged rooms by home sellers’ real estate agents were the living room (91%), primary bedroom (83%) and dining room (69%). In addition, 68% of home sellers’ agents staged the kitchen. The least commonly staged rooms were a guest bedroom and children’s bedroom (both 22%).
Twenty-one percent of home sellers’ real estate agents reported staging all their sellers’ homes prior to listing them for sale while 10% only staged homes that were difficult to sell. More than half (51%) of home sellers’ agents did not stage homes before listing them for sale but recommended that sellers declutter them or correct property faults.
When it comes to paying for staging, 26% of home sellers’ agents said it depends on the situation. Another 23% reported that they personally offer to stage the home, and 17% said that the seller pays to stage the home before listing. The median cost of a professional service was $1,500 compared to $500 when the home sellers’ agent handled the job. Homeowners can also do it themselves.
Real estate TV shows don’t help
Forty-eight percent of respondents reported that home buyers expected homes to look like dwellings that were staged for TV shows and 58% said that buyers were disappointed if dwellings didn’t resemble those portrayed on TV programs.
Television shows about the real estate market do not always help sell local homes. Among real estate agents, 21% said television programs depicting the homebuying process impacted their business, but not always in a good way.
The NAR survey said 77% of respondents indicated that TV shows set unrealistic or higher expectations of the sell-and-buy process and 60% said TV programs create increased hopes of how homes should look to potential buyers.
Just 14% of those who answered the survey said television shows result in more educated home buyers and sellers.
May 25, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
Image: Cynthia Lescalleet, CALpik, Realty News Report
THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT PODCAST
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Sam Scott of CommGate
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Lacee Jacobs of Rebel Retail Advisors
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Danny Rice of Colliers
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Trey Odom of Avera
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Kris Larson of Downtown Houston +
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Jim Carman of Howard Hughes Holdings
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Jeff Havsy of Moody’s Analytics
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Sam Scott of CommGate
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with John S. Moody, Jr. of Moody Law Group
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Scott Martin of Granite Properties
File: Home staging insights from NAR survey National Association of Realtors Home staging insights from NAR survey Home staging insights from NAR survey
Discover more from NorthScapes Realty
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
