That couch in the apartment listing might not exist

Virtual staging adds furniture to photos of empty rooms. One landlord's AI does it for under ten cents.

Less than fifty cents for five photos

Virtual staging means adding furniture to pictures of empty rooms so they look lived in. Five virtually staged photos of an apartment used to cost Heimstaden, a large European residential landlord, about €250. In a case study OpenAI published on November 3, the company says AI cut that to under ten cents per image in the Netherlands. Five photos at that price is less than fifty cents for the set. The software also writes the listing and recommends the rent, which a person approves. After an ad goes live, an AI agent reviews it against the company’s own quality standards.

Renters have noticed. In J Turner Research’s 2025 survey of apartment hunters, 63% said they disliked virtual furniture in listing photos and virtual tours.

Read the case study · Read the renter survey

Scott