Home Staging, Does It Actually Add Value to a Property Sale?

What Home Staging Actually Means

Home staging is the process of preparing a residential property for sale by arranging, decorating, and furnishing it to appeal to the broadest possible range of buyers. It differs from simply cleaning and decluttering, though those are preconditions, in that it involves deliberate choices about how each room is presented to maximise its appeal in photographs and during viewings.

At its most basic, staging means removing personal items, using neutral colours, and arranging furniture to make rooms feel larger and more purposeful. At the professional end, it involves a specialist bringing in hired furniture, artwork, soft furnishings, plants, and accessories to transform an empty or poorly furnished property.

The UK Evidence

The US staging industry has produced extensive data showing that staged homes sell faster and closer to asking price. The UK evidence is more modest but consistently positive.

A 2023 survey by the Home Staging Association UK found that:

• Staged properties sold for an average of eight percent more than equivalent unstaged properties in comparable sales
• Staged properties spent an average of 33 fewer days on the market
• 95% of staging professionals reported that staging made a positive difference to the sale

These figures should be read with appropriate scepticism, they come from an industry body with an interest in promoting staging. However, they are consistent with the underlying logic: buyers are highly visual and make decisions based on how a property feels, not just its technical specification.

The evidence is strongest for two specific scenarios: empty properties (which almost always photograph and view poorly without furniture) and properties at the upper end of the local price range where buyers have higher expectations.

What Home Staging Costs

For an empty property, furniture hire for a two-bedroom flat for eight weeks will typically cost £800–£2,500 depending on quality and provider.

DIY Staging vs Professional Staging

Most sellers do not need a professional stager. The majority of staging benefit comes from actions that cost nothing or very little:

**Declutter aggressively.** Remove one third to one half of the items in each room. Buyers need to see space, not possessions.

**Neutralise personal decoration.** Bold paint colours, heavy curtains, and highly personal artwork can actively deter buyers. A neutral, light palette, whites, soft greys, warm creams, photographs well and appeals to the widest audience.

**Define every room clearly.** If you use your dining room as a home office, return it to its intended use before listing. Buyers need to see a dining room, not a hybrid space.

**Address texture and light.** A room with a single overhead bulb looks bleak in photographs. Add floor lamps or table lamps. Use throws, cushions, and plants to add warmth without clutter.

**Fresh flowers and greenery.** A single bunch of fresh flowers in the kitchen and a small plant in the living room costs under £20 and appears consistently in styling guides for good reason.

Where professional staging is most worthwhile is for properties over approximately £500,000, properties that are empty, or properties that have stalled on the market and are being relaunched. For a £250,000 flat, spending £1,500 on professional staging to achieve an £8,000 improvement is a viable calculation; spending the same on a £150,000 flat is harder to justify.

The Specific Case for Staging Empty Properties

An empty property is almost always at a disadvantage. Empty rooms look smaller in photographs than furnished rooms, because there is no furniture to provide scale. Buyers find it harder to imagine the space as a home when it contains nothing.

The minimum intervention for an empty property is virtual staging, digitally adding furniture to photographs. This costs £50–£200 per image and can make a significant difference to click-through rates on Rightmove. However, buyers who then view an empty property in person will experience a disconnect. Physical staging, even minimal, is preferable where the property is expected to sit on the market for more than a few weeks.

When Home Staging Makes the Most Sense

The Return on Investment Calculation

For a property asking £350,000, if staging achieves a conservative 3% improvement in sale price, that is £10,500. Against a professional staging cost of £1,500, the return is substantial. Even if the improvement is half that, 1.5%, the return is still £5,250 against a £1,500 cost.

The harder-to-quantify benefit is time on market. Every additional month a property sits unsold costs the seller in mortgage payments, insurance, council tax, and utilities. If staging reduces time on market by four weeks, the saving on holding costs alone may justify the expenditure.

Property Passport UK provides sold price history that can help you benchmark the realistic price improvement potential in your area before deciding how much to invest in staging.