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Virtual staging vs empty room photos: which sells a listing better?

For the rooms buyers care about most, the living room, primary bedroom and kitchen, staged usually beats empty: 83% of buyers' agents say staging makes it easier for buyers to picture a home as their own (NAR, 2025). Virtual staging is a weaker version of that, though: only 18% of buyers' agents rate it as more important to their clients, against 57% for physical staging. Show a room empty when the room itself is the selling point, or when the current furniture gets in the way, and disclose every staged or emptied photo.

By Emil Thomsen, Founder of October · Updated October 27, 2026

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What the data says about staging

The most-cited source is NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Staging: an online survey of Realtors in February 2025, with 1,266 usable responses and a margin of error of ±2.75 points. It measures what agents report, not sale prices, but it is the best data available.

83% of buyers' agents said staging made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
Buyers' agents rated staging the living room most important (37% 'very important'), then the primary bedroom (34%) and the kitchen (23%). The guest bedroom came last (7%).
Only 12% of buyers' agents said staging had no effect on buyers' view of the home.
17% of buyers' agents said staging raised the dollar value offered by 1–5% compared with similar unstaged homes, and 41% said it made no difference.
Among sellers' agents, 30% saw a slight decrease in time on market for staged homes and 19% a great decrease. 4% saw time on market increase greatly.
91% of sellers' agents recommend decluttering before listing, and 72% recommend depersonalizing.

None of these figures compare a virtually staged photo with an empty one directly. We couldn't find an independent study that does. The many '73% faster' style claims online come from staging vendors and don't publish their method.

Virtual staging is not the same as physical staging

In the same survey, agents rated virtual staging well below the real thing:

Rated more or much more important to clients	Buyers' agents	Sellers' agents
Photos	73%	88%
Traditional physical staging	57%	43%
Videos	48%	47%
Virtual tours	43%	41%
Virtual staging	18%	16%

51% of buyers' agents rated virtual staging less or much less important. One likely reason is the gap at the viewing: a buyer who saw a furnished room online walks into an empty one. Boston.com reported in February 2026 that the head of a home staging association often physically stages homes that were first staged virtually, and that buyers who notice the difference feel misled (Boston.com). Expectations are already high: 58% of agents in NAR's survey said buyers were disappointed by how homes looked compared with homes on TV.

Virtual staging is still cheap and fast. It costs a fraction of the $1,500 median NAR found for a staging service (see virtual staging cost), and 8% of sellers' agents only stage virtually. Treat it as a picture of what a room could be, label it, and show the real room next to it.

When to show the room empty

An empty room photo, made by moving the furniture out or by removing it digitally ('defurnishing'), puts the room itself first: size, floor, light and condition. It works best when:

The furniture works against the room. Dated, oversized or very personal furniture makes a room look smaller or harder to imagine as your own. NAR found 72% of sellers' agents recommend depersonalizing.
The room was just renovated. New floors, fresh walls or new built-ins sell themselves, and furniture hides them.
It is a tenant-occupied or lived-in home where you can't move things, and the tenant's belongings would be the subject of the photo.
Buyers will change the use. A spare room that could be an office, a nursery or a gym can be clearer empty than staged as one of them.
Commercial and rental space, where tenants plan their own fit-out and want to see the shell.

An empty room has a cost too. Without furniture, buyers have nothing to judge scale by, and that is exactly the job the 83% figure above describes. If you show a living room or primary bedroom empty, add a staged version, or a photo of the room furnished as it is.

When to stage it

Vacant living rooms and primary bedrooms. Sellers' agents stage these most often (91% and 83%), and buyers' agents rank them the two most important rooms to stage.
Rooms with an unclear purpose or an odd shape, where furniture shows that a sofa, a bed or a dining table actually fits. 36% of sellers' agents stage home offices.
When the listing competes on looks. 48% of agents in NAR's survey said buyers expected homes to look staged like on TV.
Not for rooms buyers barely weigh. Only 7% of buyers' agents called staging the guest bedroom very important, so spend the money on the rooms that count.

A quick decision table

Situation	Best choice	Why
Vacant home, living room and primary bedroom	Stage (physical if the budget allows, otherwise virtual)	The rooms buyers' agents rank most important to stage
Occupied home with dated or personal furniture	Empty, or tidy and depersonalize	The room, not the furniture, is for sale
Freshly renovated room	Empty, plus one staged view if it is a main room	Shows the new finishes and still gives scale
Tenant-occupied, can't move things	Empty (digitally), with the real photo alongside	Hides belongings, stays honest with the original
Flexible spare room	Empty, or staged as its most likely use	Lets buyers project their own use
Guest or children's bedroom	Tidy as it is	Low priority for buyers; save the budget

Disclosure: both staged and empty photos count as altered

Removing furniture is an alteration, just like adding it. California's AB 723, in force since January 1, 2026, defines a digitally altered image as one changed with software or AI to 'add, remove, or change elements of the real property', naming furniture, appliances, flooring and walls. Agents must put a reasonably conspicuous disclosure on or next to the image and, online, include the unaltered version or a link to it. Lighting, white balance, colour, exposure, cropping and straightening are exempt (Senate Judiciary analysis).

San Diego MLS lists virtual staging and removing furniture, fixtures or appliances as alterations that must be disclosed and paired with the original, and adds 'when in doubt, disclosure is strongly recommended' (SDMLS).
NAR's Code of Ethics requires Realtors to 'present a true picture' in their advertising, and Standard of Practice 12-10 names misleading images (NAR).
It is often skipped: in a Coraly analysis of just under 40,000 listing photos reported by HousingWire, 10.8% showed signs of manipulation and more than 90% of those had no disclosure (HousingWire).

In practice: label every staged or emptied photo ('virtually staged', 'virtually emptied'), keep the unaltered photo of the same view, and post or link it next to the altered one. More in our California AB 723 guide.

How October handles staged and empty rooms

October's standard photos are neither staged nor emptied, but they are AI-generated. The frames from each spot are stitched into one wide view, and an AI image model draws a new photo from it, with a daylight look and loose items like bottles, towels, papers and cables left out. The model is told to keep walls, floors, windows, fittings, built-in furniture and the view, and each photo is checked against the capture. Label them as AI-altered where your MLS or state requires; the unaltered original is your capture, and October's download includes it for every photo. For rooms that need more, there are two add-ons, ordered per room, each labeled Virtually emptied or Virtually staged on the image:

Empty room: $19 per room. Every delivered photo of the room shows it without its furniture.
Staged: $29 per room, in a Scandinavian, Modern or Classic look, on every delivered photo of the room.
The Pro plan ($399/month) includes three such rooms each billing period. See pricing.

The room as the iPhone captured it — October's standard photo: a new image drawn by October's AI from a real iPhone capture (left), brighter, cushions plumped, loose items left out, the room and its furniture kept. It is AI-generated, so it is not the unaltered original; for that, use the capture itself.

The same room as October delivered it — October's standard photo: a new image drawn by October's AI from a real iPhone capture (left), brighter, cushions plumped, loose items left out, the room and its furniture kept. It is AI-generated, so it is not the unaltered original; for that, use the capture itself.

Whether the listing needs staging at all often comes down to preparation. Our photo prep checklist covers the ten minutes of tidying that make the biggest difference, and what makes listing photos look professional covers the rest.

Questions

Do staged photos sell homes faster than empty ones?

Agents report that staging helps: in NAR's 2025 survey, 30% of sellers' agents saw a slight and 19% a great decrease in time on market for staged homes. No independent study we could find compares virtually staged photos with empty ones directly.

Is virtual staging as good as real staging?

Agents don't think so. 57% of buyers' agents rated physical staging as more important to their clients, against 18% for virtual staging. Virtual staging costs far less, so it is often used for vacant homes where physical staging doesn't fit the budget.

Do I have to disclose a virtually emptied room?

Yes. Removing furniture counts as a digital alteration under California's AB 723 and under MLS rules such as San Diego MLS's. Label the photo and show or link the unaltered original.

Which rooms should I stage first?

The living room, primary bedroom and kitchen. Buyers' agents rated them the three most important rooms to stage in NAR's 2025 survey. The guest bedroom was the least important.

What does October charge for empty and staged rooms?

$19 per room for an empty room and $29 per room for a staged room in a Scandinavian, Modern or Classic look, covering every delivered photo of that room.