Reselling a new-build apartment: how to keep the photos from looking sterile

New-build apartments resold after a few years have a photo problem in two senses: the interior is still anonymous builder-standard — white walls, the same oak parquet as every neighbour — and the building often has several identical apartments for sale at once. The listing that feels like a home wins.

Sterile isn't neutral

The builder's white walls feel like a blank page to you who've lived there — but in listing photos, an unfurnished new build reads as cold and characterless. Neutral sells; sterile doesn't. The difference is life: furniture, textiles, plants and light.

Three moves that lift new-build photos

• Furnish with warmth: wood, textiles and green plants break up the white without hiding the modern finish
• Show what's actually premium: the underfloor heating doesn't show, but the large windows, the balcony and the open plan do — compose the photos around them
• Style different rooms in the same style family so the whole hangs together — Scandinavian or Japandi suit new builds best

Style guide: Japandi — the calm that suits new builds →

If the apartment is already emptied

Sold empty, the new build is back to square one: a white shell. Furnish the listing photos digitally — at the right scale, with the rooms' dimensions entered — and label them as digitally staged. The buyer sees the home; the survey sees the shell. Both see the truth.

Guide: Furnish an empty room virtually →