Property staging, whether DIY or done by professionals, continues to grow in popularity as it provides results for vendors in Melbourne.
A successful home staging project during the sale of a home is understood by many within the industry to add 5-10 per cent or more to the sale price of a home, while limiting the amount of time a property stays on the market.
There has been a greater awareness of staging by the average vendor:
2017 saw the rise of Do It Yourself staging, thanks to affordable homewares but the more people who undertake the process of staging, the more there is a greater understanding of how many decisions are required and how valuable a professional can be during the process.
Curating a contemporary and inviting look for an entire home isn’t as easy as it may seem and this certainly isn’t for everyone. Cheap furniture and homewares stand out for the wrong reasons and don’t have the same impact as a professionally-styled home.
The inevitable growth of high-density living in major cities is having its own effect on the industry.
“Incorporating nature indoors and the use of greenery, including artificial plants, is very popular,” says our stylist. “Garden walls for different purposes are also here to stay, particularly in highly populated areas where apartment buildings exist.”
Home staging is also having an unintended effect in the real estate industry, she claims.
“The most obvious change within this industry is the increase in the demand for property styling and the awareness of vendors having to style more than ever before. This in turn is assisting real estate agents to sell homes much faster.”
It is also creating opportunities for real estate agents to incorporate staging services into what they offer clients. This has not yet become a norm but in 2019 we saw more facilitation between agents and staging companies (with potential partnerships between the two) if not specific staging services offered by agents.
The second industry change is an increase in the prevalence of complete staging as opposed to partial staging. This is for a couple of reasons.
There is a growing awareness of the financial benefits to effectively staging a property and as such a growing appreciation for the skillsets of those within the industry.
This leads to the second reason, where stylists and stagers are being given greater autonomy to stage a home in a way that reflects their professional identity and where they do not have to spend time marrying new furniture with the existing décor of a vendor.
Lastly, this growing trust and appreciation for those working within the home staging industry in Melbourne will continue to lead to a breakaway from saturated design trends in home staging and an injection of design trends that are idiosyncratic to particular designers.