If you have ever listed a property for sale or to let on a property portal – or indeed your own website – without any images, possibly with that camera icon and phrase, ‘image coming soon’, it is highly possible that you may not have got much of a response.

These days, when everyone takes dozens of photos of everything and shares them with the world, nobody really wants to see a listed property without any photos. It is an instant turn off – for the potential buyer (or renter), and is also unlikely to impress the vendor.

Visual presentation plays a vital role in creating positive first impressions with potential homebuyers, and yet there are hundreds of homes reaching the online portals for sale with no supporting photos whatsoever.

According to research carried out by Giraffe360, 1.7% of all homes listed for sale across the country had no accompanying photos on their online property advert.

The North East was home to the highest level of homes listed for sale with no photos, with 2.8% of all current for sale stock missing even just one photograph of the property itself.

The East Midlands also ranked high, where 2.4% of homes were advertised without a single image, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (1.8%), the East of England (1.6%) and the South East (1.5%).Yorkshire and the Humber was also home to the biggest gap in asking price, with homes listed without photos commanding 57% less, followed by the North West (53%) and the North East (51%).

Giraffe360 CEO, Mikus Opelts, said: “In this day and age, listing a property for sale without any photos simply isn’t acceptable and not only does it do a severe disservice to the seller, but it also reflects very badly on the listing agent. The property portals are the modern day shop window and there seems to be a real lack of consistency when it comes to estate agents and how they portray themselves and their stock via these platforms.”

Opelts believes that many agents are struggling to cope with current demand for their services.

“We’ve seen such a sustained period of boom since the start of the pandemic, estate agents have been working around the clock to keep up, he added. “Many are listing homes as quickly as possible in order to keep their available stock levels refreshed and robust, but the ability to produce the accompanying media for these property adverts has either created a backlog, or in some cases, seen homes reach the market without any accompanying media at all.”