The scents that will sell your home quicker

The scents wafting around your home vary dramatically, whether you’re baking a loaf of bread or you’ve got wet dogs zooming around the living room. But when it comes to selling your property, there are certain scents which can make prospective buyers feel right at home, and others which will have them running for the door. Our sense of smell is the strongest sense we have, so it’s no wonder our noses have such an impact on how we perceive our environment.

To find out which scents are the most attractive to prospective home buyers, we surveyed the public to get their thoughts on whether or not certain smells would make them more or less inclined to buy a property. Using the top scents as revealed by our survey, we then created a limited-edition range of candles, so that you can simply light a candle to sell your home as quickly as possible.

The top scents that sell your home quicker

1. Freshly baked bread

It turns out that the aroma of a homemade loaf of bread in the oven is most likely to clinch a sale. Freshly baked bread received a vote from 37% of the participants. It’s a universally loved smell that’s been proven by research to propel us back to our childhoods, prompting nostalgic memories that make us feel at home.

2. Fresh linen

Next up was fresh linen, a fragrance that 36% of those surveyed said would encourage them to purchase a new home. Scientists have previously found that the smell of fresh, line-dried linen produces a number of compounds that our noses recognise from natural plants and perfumes. Our brains associate this with nature, a well-known antidote for stress, so it’s not surprising that this scent keeps our noses, and minds, happy.

3. Freshly brewed coffee

Finally, the third scent most likely to motivate us to sign the dotted line was freshly brewed coffee. Coffee contains over 1,000 chemical compounds with molecules found in every traditionally attractive scent, including sweet, spicy, fruity, floral and even smoky smells. Though we may live in a nation of tea-lovers, the aroma of coffee not only hits the spot, but is likely to speed up your sale.

Freshly cut grass (25%), roses (19%) and cleaning supplies (13%) were amongst the other scents that ranked in the top smells which would make homeowners more likely to buy a prospective property.

When looking at the results split by gender, the warm aroma of a loaf rising in the oven is the most appealing scent to men (31%), but fresh linen just beats bread to the post for women. Over 46% of women prefer the scent of fresh laundry floating around a new potential home, compared to 42% that would rather have freshly baked bread.

For Gen Z, it’s vanilla that comes out on top, with the largest proportion of 18-24 year old homeowners polled (33%) stating that the fragrance of vanilla would make them more inclined to purchase a house. For millennials however, the top scent is fresh linen. For Gen X and ‘boomers’, it was fresh bread that would entice them into purchasing a new home. Interestingly, the second most preferred scent to find lingering around a potential home for those aged 25-34 was new carpet - a telling sign that a house has recently been renovated.

The top scents that put people off buying a home

It may come as no surprise that most people dislike smells that we associate with bad things, but most scents that are off-putting, are for a singular reason - to alert us to danger. They’re usually a sign of bacteria, toxicity or things that cause harm to the human body.

1. Mould

Mould was the smell that would put most respondents off buying a property (68% of homeowners polled). It’s not that surprising. Not only is mould a pretty foul smell, it would also signal to most home-buyers that the building has a problem with dampness, which no prospective buyer wants.

2. Vomit

Following closely behind was vomit, with 64% of respondents stating the smell would make them less inclined to follow through with purchasing a property. As your body’s way of warning you that something might be wrong with what you’ve ingested, smelling vomit usually influences you to vomit yourself. We’re quite sure that the lingering smell of vomit alone would be enough to make us less interested in buying a home!

3. Cannabis

Finally, the third scent most likely to have us running out the front door before finding our next home is the pungent aroma of cannabis, with 55% of respondents saying it would put them off their purchase. Cannabis contains the same kind of sulfuric compounds that can be found in skunk spray - a smell we can all agree that none of us particularly want lingering around during our housewarming parties.

If you don’t want to be constantly brewing coffee, baking bread or showing people around your home while your laundry airs, then why not light a candle or two that recreate the smells for you?

Win a limited edition candle to sell your home quicker

To help speed up the process of selling your home, we’ve partnered up with Liverpool-based candle company Burn Voyage, to create a limited-edition range of layered candles, based on the top smelling scents which can both speed up and slow down the process of getting a sale on your property.

Our ‘Smells That Sell’ candle burns its way through the smells of a freshly baked loaf of bread, laundry and freshly brewed coffee; perfectly reproducing the environment that is most likely to help you sell your home.

For those wanting an insight into what the worst smelling candle in your home could smell like, we’ve also created a ‘Smells That Don’t Sell’ candle, which burns through three layers of pungent smells including mould, vomit and cannabis.

All of the candles produced are vegan-friendly, hand poured in Liverpool, and can burn for up to 30 hours.

As part of this limited-edition range of scents, we’re giving ten lucky winners the chance to win a set of Smells That Sell candles, to help with the process of selling your property.

Register your interest for an opportunity to win one of our limited-edition Smells That Sell candles!

BY SUBMITTING YOUR DETAILS, YOU ARE AGREEING TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS BELOW

Terms & Conditions

• The closing date for the chance to win a limited-edition range of ‘Smells That Sell’ candles will be 11:59pm Sunday 4th September
• Entrants must be aged 18+ to enter
• Products won cannot be returned or exchanged, or swapped for monetary value
• All personal information submitted will remain confidential
• The successful applicants will receive one of each of the designed candles as shown above (two candles for each winner)
• By providing your email address, you agree to receive our email marketing offers in accordance with our Privacy Policy

Methodology

We surveyed 1,500 UK homeowners aged 18+ and asked them to select the scents that would make them more and less inclined to buy a property. The results were then used to rank the scents that are most and least likely to help us sell our homes. Data accurate as of June 2022.