Original research · Q3 2026 baseline
State of Virtual-Staging Disclosure
A transparent baseline of 32 public-source checks across national bodies, states, MLSs, and major property portals.
The finding
Disclosure is fragmented. 16 of 32 checked authorities publish either an explicit requirement or identifiable guidance, while 16 remain unresolved from useful public sources. An agent cannot safely infer one universal workflow from general advertising law alone.
Results by authority type
| Authority | Checked | Explicit | Guidance | Unclear |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLS | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| NATIONAL | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| PORTAL | 11 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| STATE | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
These categories matter because a state advertising rule, an MLS upload rule, and a portal policy can all apply to the same listing without saying the same thing.
Coverage by country
| Country | Authorities checked | Explicit or guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 3 | 2 |
| Canada | 4 | 3 |
| Ireland | 3 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 5 | 3 |
| United Kingdom | 3 | 1 |
| United States | 14 | 6 |
Coverage reflects the public authorities selected for this baseline. A higher count means more sources were checked, not that a country has more regulation.
What the source-qualified rules have in common
- Altered imagery must not misrepresent permanent property facts, condition, dimensions, views, or surroundings.
- Image-level labeling is the most portable disclosure practice because remarks and image treatments vary by destination.
- Keeping the unaltered original supports comparison, auditability, and stricter local workflows.
- Multiple layers can apply at once: law or regulator guidance, MLS rules, brokerage policy, and portal requirements.
Practical baseline
Use an image-level “Virtually staged” label, retain and expose the original, never change permanent facts, and check every applicable state, MLS, brokerage, and portal rule before publishing. This is conservative operational guidance from Stylst, not a claim that every authority mandates identical wording.
How to cite the numbers
The counts describe this dataset—not every authority in the world—and reflect sources verified on 2026-08-09. See the classification and publication methodology, inspect the entry-level evidence, and download the underlying CSV or JSON.