Estate Agents Are Using AI to Touch Up Home Listings, a Trend Some Buyers Call 'Housefishing'

Estate agents in the United Kingdom are increasingly using artificial intelligence to make homes look more appealing in online listings, a practice some buyers and commentators now call "housefishing," the BBC reported. Agents argue the tools help people visualize a property's potential, from a fresh coat of paint to a furnished empty room. Experts warn the same tools can go too far and mislead people who then waste time on viewings. Olivia Nicole, 29, was searching for five-bedroom homes in south-west London when a house on Rightmove caught her eye. When she arrived days later, she first thought she was at the wrong address. "The rooms were much smaller than they were in the pictures and the decor was totally different," she told the BBC. "Some structural features were also different." A raised section of wall behind a sofa was missing from the images, and the windows were noticeably smaller. She took her own photos for comparison. The pictures she had seen on Rightmove, which also appeared on Zoopla and Winkworth, had been enhanced with AI, the BBC found. That was not clear in the listing, she said. "It was frustrating, because I had taken several hours off work for the viewing which I had to make up for." All three companies told the BBC they had strict guidelines on how AI could be used and have since taken the images down.

Agents have long used wide-angle lenses or Photoshop to make rooms look bigger, but AI has made the work easier. The Guild of Property Professionals, a trade group of independent agents, said it is difficult to quantify how common the practice is and has issued guidance on using AI enhancement responsibly. In a recent survey of 906 U.K. homebuyers, one in five who had purchased a home in the past year said they had viewed a property where listing photos had been digitally enhanced to make it look better than it was. Jack Bushrod, who reviews unusual Rightmove listings on a social channel called Housing Horrors, said he has seen a "surge" of AI-enhanced images over the last six months. He said using AI is fine up to a point, to declutter a room or add furniture to an empty one. He draws the line at anything that misleads a buyer or wastes their time. "I've seen one house where they had removed a pillar and added a window. Others might use AI to remove stains on the carpet or cracks in tiles." Most of the enhanced images he has seen, he said, were not clearly labeled as AI-generated.

Cara, 38, is selling her home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and said she was surprised when she saw AI-enhanced pictures her agent, Howards, put on Rightmove. In one photo, her son's room was emptied of toys and clutter. In another, of her daughter's room, the agent appears to have removed a doll's house, brightened the room, and used AI to change the shape of a rug; that image has since been taken down. Cara said one viewer has commented on the differences, but she trusts the firm, which has acknowledged the use of AI in the listing. "If they'd changed something structurally or it was really wild and didn't look like our home at all then I would put my foot down," she said. A Howards spokeswoman told the BBC the firm had now introduced a policy of labeling all AI-enhanced photos and never used AI "to misrepresent the fundamental features of a property." "It's about helping people imagine the possibilities, not changing the reality of what's being sold."

Trading Standards told the BBC that agents can use AI for basic enhancements, or to virtually furnish an empty room or garden, as long as they indicate they have used the technology. Structurally changing a room, for example by adding a window, or hiding features, could mislead consumers and break the law, it said. Bushrod argued that all agents should have to label AI-enhanced photos and mention the technology in a listing's key features. "My worry is the more estate agents use AI, others will see the trend and jump on the bandwagon." The verified record is a named buyer's mismatched viewing, a survey figure, official guidance on labeling, and a legal line around structural fakery. It is not a claim that every listing on Rightmove has been rewritten by a model.