How Many Photos Should a Real Estate Listing Have?

Zillow Research found that listings with fewer than nine photos fare worst, and that homes with 28 or more photos sell less quickly than homes with 22 to 27. Orevos offers real estate photography for listings.

What did Zillow find about the number of listing photos?

Zillow analyzed ten key variables to measure their impact on the probability a home will sell in a given amount of time, according to Zillow. The number of photos included in a listing was one of them.

On photos, homes with fewer than nine fare worst. Nationally, a home with fewer than nine photos is about 20 percent less likely to sell in sixty days than a home with 22 to 27 photos.

Do more photos always help?

Homes with the highest number of pictures, 28 or more, sell less quickly than homes with 22 to 27. Zillow says this is likely because other factors begin to outweigh the small marginal effect of each additional photo when a listing already has a lot of photos to begin with.

One of those factors is price. Homes with 28 or more photos are also listed at a median 4.9 percent above their estimated market value. That is high compared to the 3.5 percent listing premium for the U.S. as a whole. Zillow also notes that correlation isn't causation.

What should the photos cover?

More shoppers are buying from abroad or out of state and making an offer sight unseen, so they want to see a home fully documented, according to Redfin. They want to see every corner of the home.

Each photo should show its room in its entirety. A frame that leaves out an adjoining bathroom misses an opportunity to show it.

How old is the Zillow data?

The analysis covers single-family homes, condos and co-ops listed for sale in the fourth quarter of 2014 and sold before March 31, 2015, so it describes that market rather than today's. It is a survival analysis of how likely a home is to sell within a given number of days, and Zillow stresses that correlation is not causation.

Do photos change how many people look?

Zillow's same analysis found that page views in the first week matter a great deal. Nationwide, a home with fewer than 100 first-week page views had an estimated 12 percent chance of selling in sixty days, against around 36 percent for homes with 280 or more. Homes with 28 or more photos also got 5 percent fewer page views than listings with 22 to 27 photos, comparing medians.

How many photos does a typical home need?

Zillow's advice for agents is about 20 photos for a standard home of roughly 1,900 to 2,600 square feet, and around 10 for a smaller one-bedroom home. It warns that too few photos may leave a buyer wondering why more is not being shown or confuse them about the layout, while more than a couple of shots of each room can make them stop browsing.

What goes in a set of photos?

For that standard home, Zillow suggests two wide-angle shots each of the kitchen, living room and every bedroom, one photo of each bathroom unless it is particularly large, one to three of the backyard, one to two of the front of the home, and one shot of each additional room such as the laundry room and garage.

Which photo should lead?

A realtor.com article citing the 2025 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers says 81% of buyers rated listing photos as the most useful feature in their online home search. It says the lead image sets expectations for the whole listing, that a strong exterior or a lifestyle-focused interior often performs better than a wide room overview, and that leading with similar angles, burying standout features or saving outdoor spaces for the end can make buyers lose interest early.

What makes each photo count?

Redfin's examples of weak photos are practical: an entryway shot that missed the storage and made white walls look brown, a tilted dining room with off white balance, a bedroom composition that hid the adjoining bathroom, and an exterior where a basketball hoop and an umbrella pulled the eye away from the house.

See the project: Douglas Crescent, Richmond