The dream scenario when selling a home is that, days after a ‘For Sale’ sign is staked into the ground outside, your house is snapped up and you’re quickly on your way to pastures new.
The reality is rarely that straightforward, and while the sluggish property market is picking up, say experts – with homes predicted to sell faster in 2026, persuading buyers that your home is the one for them can be a laborious process.
It’s estimated that it takes an average of between 15 to 25 viewings to sell a home in the UK, which can equate to months of keeping your home spotless and free of clutter – and enduring feedback on why offers haven’t been forthcoming.
So, could paying a professional property ‘stager’ – someone who comes in and dresses your house to showhome standard, helping you achieve the quickest, highest price – be the way forward?
Interiors expert Liv Conlon, 27, spotted a gap in the UK property market for staging a decade ago after her mother’s empty home failed to attract a single offer after being on sale for 12 long weeks.
She tells the Daily Mail: ‘My mum’s home had been on the market for three months and wouldn’t sell, so I decided to “stage” it. It was empty and there had been viewings and interest but no offers.’
After Conlon added modern furniture and made it feel more ‘liveable’, it was snapped up within three days – and the young entrepreneur decided to launch her company, The Property Stagers, soon after.
Showhome chic: Property staging – dressing up a home to sell it – has become increasingly popular in recent years, and could help you sell your home, and swell the price you get for it
Hotel-style bed linens, citrus scents and decluttering are all tips pro property stagers use to make homes more appealing to prospective buyers
‘Staging had taken off in the US but there weren’t really any companies doing it commercially here ten years ago’.
The process can be as simple as a few tips and tricks in the moments before prospective buyers arrive – ‘lemon is the most attractive scent’ – to completely overhauling the look and feel of a home via renting furniture, creating ambient lighting and dressing beds with hotel-style linens.
Surely, we’re not so superficial as to leap into a property purchase on the grounds of some easy-on-the-eye chairs or a nice-looking headboard?
Liv Conlon started her company The Property Stagers a decade ago after dressing her mum’s home – and selling it in just three days
We certainly are, says Conlon, whose company now tackles everything from modest student accommodation to multi-million-pound apartments in London and even holiday rental properties.
‘If a property is worth £200,000, and you stage it correctly, you could achieve an offer of £220,000. But I’ve seen properties go for way, way above the asking price – including a £400,000 property that went for £500,000.
‘You sell a dream when you sell a property. Around 90 per cent of the population don’t have an eye for design, so they struggle to see when a property isn’t renovated, or isn’t clearly laid out for them – they find it hard to see themselves living there’.
In much the same way many of us are weak in the face of a brand-new outfit or the latest gadget, we have the same cravings when it comes to our living environment, she adds.
’95 per cent of our purchase decisions are based on our emotion rather than logic. We walk into a space and we can see our kids there, our partner there. We picture ourselves enjoying a coffee or wine with friends.
‘That’s what really makes us buy anything – it’s the dream of what it will look like when we see ourselves in that situation.’
If you’re bereft of interior design skills, how much does it cost to have someone spruce up your home pre-sale?
A property in the UK takes between 15 and 25 viewings on average to sell…but good photography, great lighting and a pleasant scent in a house can be allies to a quicker sale
Typically, it’s around 1 per cent of the eventual sale price, so similar to what you’d pay an estate agent to market your home, with packages starting from around £999 depending on the property.
If you’re on a tight budget though, there are plenty of tips you can borrow from professional stagers – including steps you can take before buyers even step through the threshold of your home.
Technology, for example, has improved dramatically when it comes to online property brochures; if your garden looks gloomy in February, use AI to put a beautiful blue sky behind it instead.
Ailsa Alexander, a partner at estate agents Douglas & Gordon, says if your home looks good online, you already have a head start on others, so it’s worth investing time in getting decent snaps.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: ‘Many buyers and sellers view properties online as a first point of call – and high-end homes in particular need to stand out on a screen before they win over a potential buyer or renter. That means creating showhome vibes.’
She adds: ‘Go for high-impact photography and videos that cut through the noise online, including clean lines and smart staging. Sometimes it’s a simple reset for a property that is being marketed/re-marketed including a fresh coat of paint, a deep clean, decluttering and flowers in situ.’
If you do just one thing? Focus on making your home smell pleasant for prospective buyers.
Says Conlon, who recently launched her own charity, Too Big For Your Boots, which helps young people launch their own business: ‘Lemon is great because it makes your home feel like a really clean space but it’s also not overpowering.
‘If someone’s totally turned off by a home’s smell, it will have a really negative impact. Smell is a big part of staging well.’
Research released last week by Lloyds found that the Devon city of Plymouth – once home to explorer Sir Francis Drake – was the top ‘housing hotspot’ of 2025.
The port city recorded the steepest rise in the value of homes during the last year in the locations analysed by the bank, up by £31,229 from £247,579 to £278,808.
| Local area | Region | Average home value 2024 | Average home value 2025 | £ Growth in value | % growth in value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth | South West | £247,579 | £278,808 | £31,229 | 12.6% |
| Stafford | West Midlands | £286,732 | £321,248 | £34,516 | 12.0% |
| Wigan | North West | £225,822 | £249,562 | £23,740 | 10.5% |
| Wakefield | Yorkshire and the Humber | £263,381 | £286,268 | £22,887 | 8.7% |
| Mansfield | East Midlands | £223,807 | £243,251 | £19,444 | 8.7% |
| Woking | South East | £518,453 | £560,499 | £42,046 | 8.1% |
| Liverpool | North West | £236,864 | £254,550 | £17,686 | 7.5% |
| Rugby | West Midlands | £349,203 | £374,653 | £25,450 | 7.3% |
| Falkirk | Scotland | £222,718 | £238,512 | £15,794 | 7.1% |
| Hull | Yorkshire and the Humber | £187,142 | £199,348 | £12,206 | 6.5% |
| Source: 2025 vs 2024, rolling 12-month data to end October each year. Locations only included where Lloyds Banking Group has made a minimum of 150 mortgage offers in the period, all buyers excluding Buy to Let and Shared Ownership. | |||||
Property values across Plymouth rose by 12.6 per cent on average in 2025 compared with 2024, according to the figures based on the company’s own mortgage data.
The growth has been linked to major infrastructure investments such as Royal William Yard, a former naval area turned into a modern complex with homes and shops.
Improved retail, restaurants and lifestyle amenities have also been cited for creating a more competitive property market that has led to property prices increasing.
Stafford came in second place in the study with a rise of 12.0 per cent or £34,516 to £321,248; while Wigan was third, up by 10.5 per cent or £23,740 to £249,562.
Wakefield, Mansfield, Woking, Liverpool, Rugby, Falkirk and Hull also made the bank’s top ten hotspots with increases of between 6.5 per cent and 8.7 per cent.