Interior and architect-designed homes outperform their local market

Sydney’s flashy home lovers are forking out mega bucks just to keep up with the neighbours – with buyers in some suburbs paying more than double the going rate for homes dripping in designer flair.

Forget boring brick veneers – in pockets of the city, only slick styling, marble benchtops and glossy interiors will do. Research from luxury styling outfit Sovereign Interiors showed buyers in some postcodes are splashing millions more on designer properties.

Interior and architect-designed homes in NSW typically commanded prices $128,000 higher. A non-styled two-bed home averaged $1.7m, while architect or interior designed homes fetched an average $2.37m.

Travis and Jacqui Langdon with their kids Casey (3) and five-month-old Penelope. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The difference was much higher in some areas. In Balgowlah, a two-bedder will cost a cool $1.42m on average – but if it’s been spruced up by an interior designer, the price rockets to a jaw-dropping $2.58m.

Over in north shore suburb Northbridge, three-bedroom homes are averaging $3.63m – unless they’ve had the designer treatment, in which case the average cost is rising to $5.24m.

Two-bedroom homes in Collaroy had an average price of $1.24m in comparison to the architect or interior home average of $2.17m.

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Source: Sovereign Interiors.

Sovereign Interiors’ findings came from analysis of 115,607 listings on realestate.com.au nationally during August 2025.

The research included comparing homes listed as ‘interior designer-designed’ or ‘architect-designed’, categorising these by bedroom count and suburb.

Homeowners in some areas revealed that home styling made a substantial difference to their property sales.

Travis and Jacqui Langdon recently hired a stylist before listing their Allambie Heights home of five years.

“We really wanted to give our home the best possible chance and appeal to the broadest market,” Ms Langdon said, noting they opted for an integrated styling campaign with some of their own pieces.

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The Langdom family’s styled home on Binalong Ave, Allambie Heights.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say we had a particular style in mind, it was more around what we saw on Instagram, how we liked their styling and then matching that to the theme that we were already going for,” Ms Langdon said.

“Kind of that tropical oasis in the back and showcasing that there really is a lot of zones.”

According to Mr Langdon, there is already positive feedback. “A lot of people are loving the furniture and everything,” he said.

The Langdon’s selling agent Tim Cullen of McGrath-Manly said home styling has become critical in the last decade.

“It’s more than worth its weight in gold,” he said. “In our area roughly $10,000 (in styling and design) can equate to fifty to a hundred or even a few hundred thousand dollars in money coming back to the family.”

Sovereign Interiors Interior Stylist Cayley Scrooby

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Mr Cullen said styling led to greater numbers of people coming to open homes and not including it could can be detrimental as it would limit the number of buyers becomimg “emotionally attached” to the property.

“I very rarely ever sell a non-styled property,” he said. “The difference between styled and non-styled is chalk and cheese … without it, it can have the property look quite bland or soulless.”

Travis and Jacqui Langdon utilised a stylist for their Allambie Heights home currently on the market. Picture: Tim Hunter

Sovereign Interiors Interior Stylist Cayley Scrooby said buyers are increasingly drawn to homes that offer a sense of flow, quality and functionality. “People are looking for the full package,” she said.

Ms Scrooby offered these interior tips:

• Use natural light to open up the layout, making the home feel as bright and airy as possible

• Focus on core rooms for renovations such as the kitchen and bathroom

• hoose timeless over trends such as natural stones, timbers and neutral palette

• Make the home as functional and practical as possible

• Effective styling should allow people to picture the home as their own

The post Interior and architect-designed homes outperform their local market appeared first on realestate.com.au.