The Top 6 Luxury Real Estate Photography Trends For 2024

First impressions are everything in real estate. 

High-quality listing photos play a crucial role in attracting the attention of potential buyers. Photos offer the first impression of the property and can significantly increase the likelihood of generating interest and, ultimately, a successful sale for top dollar. 

In fact, real estate photography company VHT Studios found that professional photos can help a house sell 32% faster than a house with low-quality or average photos, and the National Association of Realtors 2023 Profile of Home Staging revealed that 77% of buyer’s agents said having photos was extremely important to their clients.

New trends are constantly emerging, but these are the latest luxury real estate photography trends to help your listings stand out in 2024!

Real Estate Drone Photography and Videography

One of the latest photography trends is real estate drone photography and videography. Using a drone for listing photos allows you to get a bird’s-eye view of the property and highlight important home features and the surrounding area. 

Real estate agents can use aerial real estate photography to show potential buyers a variety of features and details that other methods simply can’t, including:

• Aerial views of the entire property that showcase its condition, size, and layout
• Property features and unique architectural elements
• The neighborhood, surrounding area, and proximity to nearby amenities

Drones aren’t only used for exterior shots. You can use drones to capture a tour of the home's interior in one video rather than separate photos. This gives prospective buyers a better sense of the home’s layout. 

By marketing properties using high-quality drone photography and videos, real estate agents can gain a competitive advantage. According to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) statistics, homes with aerial shots are 68% more likely to sell! 

Twilight Photography

A twilight photo is an exterior photo taken at dusk, either just before sunrise or after sunset. It’s used to showcase the landscape and exterior features, such as a pool or fire pit, and other unique details to grab the attention of homebuyers. Most real estate photos are taken during daytime hours, but incorporating twilight photography can help your listing stand out!

Using data from Zillow, a real estate photography provider, found that real estate listings containing a twilight image averaged 66% more views than listings without twilight images. Furthermore, listings that contained a twilight image as the main photo averaged 76% more views. Twilight photo usage also leans toward higher-priced homes, providing a high-end premium feel when paired with outdoor recessed lights.

HDR Real Estate Photography

HDR (high dynamic range) real estate photography is a technique that blends multiple images at different exposures to create a stunning image and bring out the most beautiful features of a home. HDR photography captures every detail and is especially useful when there’s a lot of contrast between light and dark areas of the scene, leaving you with a perfectly exposed photo.

Imagine you have a living room with large windows that let in a lot of natural light. While this light creates strong highlights in certain areas, the corners of the room remain much darker. 

A single exposure might struggle to properly capture the bright exterior and darker interior details. However, taking multiple shots of the same scene at different exposure levels will show details in both the bright windows and the darker corners of the room. This balanced exposure allows potential buyers to see the entire space clearly, including features like the view outside the windows and the interior details.

You can take HDR photos on a mobile device, but professional-grade cameras are much more capable of taking realistic and flattering photos. According to IMOTO, property listings using HDR photos sell 50% faster and increase online views by 118%.

3D House Tours

Sometimes, looking at photos online isn’t enough. Incorporating 3D house tours is a good way to give prospective buyers a better idea of the property’s layout and size. 3D tours give a detailed view of the home’s interior and allow buyers to “walk” from room to room without ever having to step foot in the home. 

Zillow’s Consumer Housing Trends Report 2023 found that a majority of buyers (72%) somewhat or completely agree that 3D tours would give them a better feel for the space than static photos. Sixty-seven percent of buyers also said that they wish more listings had 3D tours available, and three in five buyers said they would be at least somewhat confident in making an offer on a home after seeing a virtual tour. 

Virtual Staging

Traditional home staging is the act of preparing the home for viewing by redecorating, rearranging furniture, and depersonalizing spaces. On the other hand, virtual staging is a growing trend that involves digitally adding furniture, decor, and lighting to property photos to make them more visually appealing to the broad buyer market. 

Virtual staging is a cost-effective approach to home staging that offers greater flexibility and a shorter timetable. That means you can skip the hassle and transform your listing photos into spaces that appeal to most buyers.

Vertical Photos

Vertical photos are exactly what you think. They’re photos in portrait orientation designed to perfectly fit mobile phone screens.

Why is this important? A growing number of buyers are using mobile devices to view properties.

The NAR’s 2023 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report revealed that while most buyers turned to their agent as an information source, mobile or tablet searches followed closely behind. Seventy-three percent of all buyers used a mobile or tablet during their home search.

Level Up Your Marketing With These Luxury Real Estate Photography Trends!

High-quality real estate photos play a crucial role in creating a lasting first impression among prospective buyers. While quality static photos will never go out of style, there are luxury real estate photography trends — real estate drone photography, twilight photos, 3D house tours, and more — that can help you elevate your real estate marketing efforts in 2024.

Are you selling your home in Washington DC, Maryland, or Northern Virginia? Send me a message and schedule a time to discuss implementing these real estate photography trends to help sell your home faster and for the highest possible price! I have years of experience in the DC housing market, so you can feel confident in my home value recommendation.