3 HOUSES sold in under a week
I recently had three homes that I professionally staged, and each sold in less than a week. Each of them drew overwhelming interest, packed with viewings, and generated multiple offers, meaning that my clients recouped their staging investment many times over. These weren’t isolated wins: they’re proof that staging is not just “nice to have”, but in fact a powerful strategy that works.
Why does home staging work
The Psychology behind it..
Photography by Fig & Honey
At its heart, staging works because we live in a deeply visual world. We’re exposed to perfection on social media, in magazines, and in our daily lives.
Simply put, beauty sells.
Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest thrive because they offer aspirational images that pull us in, and real estate is no different. When a property is beautifully staged, its photographs can feel like something straight out of a design magazine. That “hero shot”- the most compelling image in a listing- can stop the scroll, capture attention, and emotionally connect with potential buyers.
Humanising the Buyer - They’re Not Just Numbers
Buyers aren’t just data points- they’re people, families, couples, individuals just chasing their dreams like the rest of us. What is also true is that many people can’t visualise empty spaces.
Asking someone to visualise what might be possible in an empty room is hard, as it might lead to too many questions: “Will my sofa fit?” “Is the bedroom big enough for a double bed or my sideboards?” “Can I imagine my kids in here?”
These questions become problems that buyers have to focus on solving instead of taking in the emotion of the home, leaving little space for connecting and desiring the home.
Struggling to “see” the place as theirs, and without staging, listings risk being emotionally flat, which can slow buyer interest, reduce offers, or even lead to cancellations.
Photography by Brick Picks
Supply, Demand & Perceived Value
Supply and demand is something we have all felt at a point in our lives, so it’s not hard to relate.
The limited edition, the one of a kind, the last one… the fear of missing out.
The more interest you generate, the more the demand and because supply is finite, that drives value.
You achieve that when you turn your property into a showstopper and market it effectively. The more demand on your property, the higher the urgency of acting quickly. Therefore, you get stronger offers, which can potentially translate into a faster sale, which of course, is the desired outcome.
Data & Research to Support Why It Works
Staged homes consistently sell faster and for higher prices. In the UK, properties that have been professionally staged typically sell within around 41 days, whereas unstaged homes can take up to 99 days to find a buyer, making the unstaged ones 73% slower to sell.
This quicker sale timeline helps sellers save a significant amount of money on ongoing mortgage payments, property taxes, and utility bills.
Furthermore, staged homes tend to sell for 8–10% more on average compared to unstaged properties. The increased sale price usually offsets the initial investment in staging several times over.
Potential buyers also spend noticeably more time viewing staged homes, which frequently results in more offers and often achieves better final sale prices. Overall, staging not only accelerates the selling process but also maximises the financial return for sellers.
How much does home staging cost?
Let's discuss the investment side of staging a house and the burning question of how much staging costs, and is it worth it?
The truth is that every property is unique, and so is the amount of furniture needed to kit it out. Important factors such as location, price point, and client avatar all play a role in determining the price, but as a guide, the typical quote would be in and around 1–3% of the asking price, depending on how extensive the work is - whether you're doing a full staging or a lighter refresh.
When you compare that to the potential uplift of 8–10%, the return on investment works out very favourably.
I’ll say it again, staging isn’t a cost, it’s a leveraged investment.
Staging is a targeted, intentional strategy: designed for your “ideal buyer avatar.”
Bottom line is that staging isn’t random decorating. Effective staging is targeted. When we stage a home, we think deeply about who the ideal buyer is for that particular area, that style of house and that price bracket.
We bring in furniture and styling choices that resonate with that demographic. We highlight the home’s strengths: its light, its layout, and its architectural features, and we create a vision for how life could be in that space. The emotional connection is intentional, and so is every piece of furniture.
In short, staging works because it blends emotion and economics. It appeals to the buyer’s imagination, helps them visualise a future, amplifies the home’s best features and does so in a way that delivers real, measurable return for the seller.
If you’re a homeowner or an agent curious about what staging could do for your property, or if you'd like to talk through how I could help you create that “dream-home-on-paper” feeling, I’d love to chat. This isn’t just styling, it’s a sales strategy that pays for itself.
Photography by Fig & Honey