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The 403 % figure the whole industry repeats (and where it really comes from)
You have read it ten times: a listing with video supposedly receives 403 % more enquiries. We went looking for the study. What we found is worth telling.
By Laura, Sales Director & Customer Success 7 min read
This figure circulates in every sales deck in the sector. It is quoted by agencies, portals and software vendors. Depending on the article, it is attributed to the American NAR, to an « Australian property group », or to nobody.
What we found tracing it back
The original source is an Australian trade-press article published in <b>2012</b>. It reports a statement made at a conference, attributing the figure to an Australian property portal. No methodology is published: no sample size, no period, no definition of what counts as an « enquiry ». The original article is no longer accessible.
Three problems compound. The figure is fourteen years old, an eternity on the scale of digital behaviour. It concerns the Australian market. And it comes from a company that was selling paid video options on its listings.
What does hold up, on the other hand
There is serious data on how a property is presented. It is more modest than 403 %, and it is real.
On home staging, the annual American NAR study published in 2025 — 1 266 usable responses, published margin of error — reports that 29 % of agents observe an increase in the offered value of between 1 and 10 %, and that <b>49 % observe a shorter time on market</b>. The median cost of professional staging is put at 1 500 dollars.
On photography, two American studies from 2013 and 2014 measured significant differences in time and price. They are twelve years old and cover a single market: they indicate a direction, not a promise.
Why virtual home staging changes the equation
Physical staging is expensive, takes time and assumes an empty property. Virtual staging furnishes, renovates and declutters digitally, photo by photo. The buyer sees the potential where the photo showed only a bare space.
Its least obvious benefit lies elsewhere. It is an argument for winning the mandate: an owner who sees what you can do with a tired property immediately understands the difference between two agencies.
And video, then
Video has a value that the dubious figures obscure rather than serve: it circulates where photographs do not. A study by Ahrefs published in September 2026, covering more than three million queries, shows that <b>YouTube is the site most cited by Google's AI Overviews</b>, with 22.9 % of mentions.
In other words, a video does not only sell today's property. It builds a presence where the engines go looking for what they cite. That is a verifiable, recent argument — and it does not require inventing 403 %.
