Report: Staging a Home Reduces Time on the Market

Nearly half of seller’s agents (48%) reported that staging a home decreased its time on market, according to a new report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) titled “2023 Profile of Home Staging.”

For both buyers’ and sellers’ agents, one in five (20%) said home staging increased the offer price by between 1% and 5% compared to similar homes on the market that weren’t staged.

“NAR’s 2023 Profile of Home Staging” reveals the role home staging plays in the real estate transaction, including the perspectives of buyers’ and sellers’ agents, the impact of television shows, and buyer expectations.

In January 2023, NAR invited a random sample of 43,176 active Realtors to fill out an online survey. A total of 1,921 usable responses were received for an overall response rate of 4.4%. At the 95% confidence level, the margin of error is plus-or-minus 2.23%.

“As days on market has lengthened for home sellers, it is not a surprise to see the return of home staging as a tool to attract potential buyers,” said Dr. Jessica Lautz, NAR Deputy Chief Economist and VP of Research. “Buyers want to easily envision themselves within a new home and home staging is a way to showcase the property in its best light.”

Four out of five buyers’ agents (81%) 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 the primary bedroom (36%) and the kitchen (30%).

“When getting ready to list a home for sale, it’s vital to complete the necessary prep work to make a favorable and lasting first impression,” said NAR President Kenny Parcell, a Realtor from Spanish Fork, Utah, and Broker/Owner of Equity Real Estate Utah. “Realtors provide valuable guidance on how best to make your home an inviting space that connects with prospective buyers, and stands out from the competition.”

Twenty-three percent said they staged all sellers’ homes prior to listing them for sale, while 10% noted they only staged homes that were difficult to sell.

Real estate television shows affected buyers’ perspectives on homes, according to a majority of Realtors, while 73% said that TV shows which display the buying process impacted their business by setting unrealistic or increased expectations, with 55% reporting that buyers said homes should look like they were staged on TV shows.

Over the past five years, 51% of surveyed Realtors said they’ve seen an increase in the share of buyers who planned to remodel a home. A quarter of respondents noted that buyers who plan to remodel will do so within the first three months of owning a home.

Nearly all of those surveyed (95%) reported that their buyer clients brought family members who weren’t purchasing the home with them while viewing homes.

Despite whether or not a home is staged, the nation's limited housing supply has been impacting buyers nationwide as Redfin reports the pool of homes available to homebuyers is shrinking quickly because new listings are scarce. New listings fell 21.8% from a year earlier nationwide during the four weeks ending April 2, one of the biggest drops since the start of the pandemic, contributing to an unseasonal early-spring decline in the total number of homes for sale. Many homeowners are staying put because they’re unwilling to give up their low mortgage rate. Although average 30-year mortgage rates posted their fourth-straight decline this week, dropping to 6.28%, that’s more than double the sub-3% rates common in 2021.