Home selling scents: The smells that could win or lose you a sale

Best smells to influence buyers

When asked which smells would positively influence their decision to buy, there was a clear winner. With neutral colours and features often advised as the best bet when providing a buyer with a blank canvas during the viewing process, it seems the same goes for smells, with 22% stating that general fresh air was a seller’s best bet for making a positive impression.

Fresh flowers also ranked high with 15% of buyers stating it would positively influence their decision, as did the old favourite of fresh bread or baked goods.

Interestingly, the garden presents a good opportunity to bolster this positive influence, with 12% stating that a freshly mown lawn would also positively impact their thoughts on a property.

11% would be uninfluenced by any strategic scent during the viewing process, while fresh coffee and laundry would help for 10% of buyers, with shop-bought fragrances the least popular at just 5%.

Scents for sellers to avoid

Of course, there are a number of scents that could scupper a sale, with the top-ranking being cigarette smoke. 23% of buyers said it would deter them from buying a house that was otherwise perfect for them, with a further 22% ranking the smell of blocked drains as the biggest deterrent.

General rubbish (13%), the smell of a pet (11%), a recently used toilet and strong food smells such as cooked fish (9%) also ranked high, with dirty laundry (6%) less of an issue.

Just 5% wouldn’t be deterred from buying a perfect home due to an unsavoury smell. So if you're trying to sell your house fast on the open market, good smells seem like a must to help sway those viewers to make an offer.

We eat with our eyes (and apparently buy homes with our noses)

Matthew Cooper, Founder & Managing Director of Yes Homebuyers, commented:

“We set out to debunk the myths around the power of smell when it comes to selling a home, but it seems that in the same way we apparently eat with our eyes, we also buy homes with our noses.

Various smells, both positive and negative, seem to have a considerable influence on the decision-making process of homebuyers, so much so that the vast majority of buyers would actually ditch their otherwise ideal home due to a negative nasal impression. As professional home-buyers we tend to look past these sorts of issues (we buy any house in any condition - so we're used to seeing much worse from time to time!). But for ordinary buyers, scents remain a major factor in their home-buying decision.

So it’s more likely that a bad smell will deter a buyer, however it does seem as though the old tricks of fresh flowers and baking could help sway them in the opposite direction.”