If you’ve ever watched someone scroll through Rightmove on their commute, you’ll know how ruthless buyer behaviour really is. A split second on a photo. A glance at the floor plan. Then swipe on to the next one.
In London’s hyper-competitive market, where the average property sits above £530,000 according to Zoopla’s latest House Price Index your online presentation isn’t a small detail. It’s the difference between generating a flood of enquiries or getting completely lost in the noise.
Professional property marketing is no longer a luxury. It’s a high-ROI investment, and the newest UK data proves it.
Buyers Decide Online Long Before They Visit in Person
The buyer journey begins and often ends on a property portal.
Rightmove’s most recent market engagement reports show users spent 16.4 billion minutes on the platform last year, browsing roughly one million active listings. With this much competition, your listing has only seconds to make an impression.
Research summarised by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) highlights why this matters:
75% of buyers are frustrated by poor-quality photos
82% want more than 10 images before deciding to book a viewing
Listings with strong visuals attract significantly more enquiries
In short, presentation is the gatekeeper.
If your listing doesn’t look compelling immediately, buyers simply don’t shortlist it.
Professional Photography: A Few Hundred Pounds That Can Add Thousands in Value
Across multiple UK studies, the impact of professional photography is surprisingly consistent.
Rightmove’s own “great listings” guidance, widely reported across agencies and industry training, shows that listings with high-quality photography can achieve up to 93% more leads compared with average ones.
Meanwhile, UK media companies such as Dolphin Media (citing Redfin research) report that homes photographed with professional equipment:
Sell 32% faster
Achieve £3,600–£14,000 more in sale price
And NRLA-summarised market behaviour data notes that better marketing can help homes achieve around a 2% higher asking price on average.
Let’s translate the numbers.
On a £534,000 London home:
A 1% uplift = £5,340
A 2% uplift = £10,680
A typical London professional photo package costs roughly £150–£200.
That’s a 25x+ return on investment, and this is before factoring in shorter time on market, stronger negotiation power, and fewer price reductions.
Floor plans: The First Thing Buyers Click On (Whether Sellers Realise It or Not)
Zoopla’s 2024 buyer behaviour report found something most sellers don’t know:
80% of buyers click on the floor plan before the photos.
Why? Because the layout tells buyers everything they need to know before they get emotionally attached:
Does the property flow well?
Are the rooms big enough?
Is there space for a home office?
Does this layout work for my lifestyle?
The Property Academy’s Homemover Report reinforces this:
80% of sellers and renters say floor plans are essential
88% of buyers consider them a necessary part of a listing
And multiple UK floor plan marketing analyses show that listings with floor plans get up to 52% more clicks.
In a city where every square foot is expensive, layout clarity is not optional; it’s a conversion tool.
Video & Virtual Tours: Where the Biggest Enquiry Jumps Happen
Video marketing is no longer only for prime or luxury listings. It has become a mainstream buyer expectation.
Industry-standard data across the UK property sector shows:
Listings with video receive up to 403% more enquiries
Virtual tours receive 87% more views, according to NRLA’s summary of consumer behaviour
3D tours can make buyers 95% more likely to contact an agent, based on UK virtual-tour provider statistics
Properties marketed with virtual tours sell around 31% faster
In London, where many buyers are relocating, international, or juggling long work hours, video and virtual tours bridge the gap between online browsing and in-person decision-making.
This dramatically expands your buyer pool. Something static photos alone cannot achieve.
The ROI: What Professional Marketing Actually Delivers
When we combine the figures from Rightmove, Zoopla, NRLA, Redfin-cited UK media data and virtual-tour analytics, the returns become clear.
Here’s the conservative version:
Photography Only
Cost: roughly £100–£150
Typical uplift: around 1%
Value gained on a £534,000 property: £5,340
ROI: approximately 35x–50x
Even at the lowest uplift figures, photos alone generate multiple times their cost.
Photography + Floorplan + Video/Virtual Tour
Cost: roughly £150–£300
Typical uplift: 1–2%
Value gained on a £534,000 property: £5,340–£10,680
ROI: approximately 20x–70x, depending on the property
Even if we assume the lowest uplift and the highest package cost, the ROI remains overwhelmingly positive, which is why professional marketing often pays for itself several times over.
Why London Specifically Demands Premium Presentation
Three structural factors make London different from the rest of the UK:
1. Buyer expectations are significantly higher
International buyers, digital-native Millennials, and design-savvy Londoners expect premium visuals.
This is backed by NRLA data showing strong dissatisfaction with poor imagery and a high demand for floor plans and tours.
2. Listings are at a five-year high
Rightmove and Zoopla both report elevated stock levels, meaning buyers have more choice and sellers must stand out.
3. Every square foot costs more here
When each square metre is worth thousands, showing space well directly affects perceived value.
A Small Investment That Protects, and Grows, Real Value
The latest UK data is unambiguous:
Up to 93% more leads with great photography
52% more clicks with floor plans
403% more enquiries with video
31% faster sales with virtual tours
£3,600–£14,000 increased value with professional imagery
1–2% higher sale prices on average with proper marketing
In one of the world’s most competitive property markets, professional marketing is one of the highest-ROI decisions a seller or agent can make.
A few hundred pounds can protect and often grow, thousands in value, while speeding up the entire sales cycle.
In London, where buyers are quick and options are plentiful, a premium presentation isn’t just helpful.
It’s essential.
Small improvements in marketing can create big returns. Get in touch to unlock that value!