Turns out the doghouse isn’t such a bad place, after all. In a move that is drawing pawsitive response from across Australia, real estates are including “staging pets” in their property listings to boost sales. I Shih Tzu not.
In Australia, 70% of households own a pet. And with almost 29 million pets in the country, we have some of the highest pet ownership rates in the world. With numbers like that, it makes sense to capitalise on what is obviously a shared affection for over two thirds of the population. So far, the new marketing trend seems to favour dogs, whose owners account for 48% of all pet owners. More of a cat person? That puts you in with the 30% of Australian pet owners who’re feline folk.
Essentially, the ‘pet staging’ trend sees agents inserting our furry friends into various scenarios – be it lounging by the fireplace, sunning on the back deck, or playing fetch in the yard – as a tool to show off pet-friendly homes to potential buyers. In NSW, there are currently over 5,370 property listings which fall under the “pet friendly” filter on Domain.
In some cases, agents even use their own dogs to get the message across, like Rollo, a French bulldog owned by Canberra real estate agent Catherine Halloran. According to money.com.au, Halloran credits Rollo with encouraging prospective buyers to linger a little longer on her listings and for helping “break down barriers between sellers and buyers.”
Not only does everyone just love a good pup pic, but featuring pets in listings is also proving to help buyers envisage themselves living there with their own best friend (oh, sure, we mean other than their spouse.) The idea is that buyers form an emotional connection with the property and the homely atmosphere being projected through the screen before they’ve even viewed it in person.
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Beyond that, some buyers are actually searching for properties with their pet’s needs and wants in mind – be it a grassy backyard, proximity to dog parks, or an open plan interior layout that offers plenty of space to roam. Other pet-tential fur-friendly features include solid fencing, study flooring, and plenty of grass.
In Australia, the NT and ACT have the highest percentage of pet owners, 82% and 75% respectively. The percentage of pet owners in NSW is about 60%, coming in slightly lower than VIC’s 65%. But with the NSW Government’s planned legislation making it easier for tenants (who make up a third of the state’s population) to have pets in rentals, that percentage is likely to climb dramatically. Under the proposed new laws, Landlords will no longer be able to refuse pets without providing a valid reason, and if they do, they’re barking up the wrong tree. In the immortal words of Mr. Burns – “Release the hounds!”
