How long should a property video be?

There's no single correct runtime for a property video, and anyone who quotes you one to the second is overselling it. As a sensible default, aim for around 30 to 60 seconds — long enough to read a layout, short enough to hold attention. From there, the channel decides: a portal listing carries a fuller cut, social wants something tighter, and a flagship home on YouTube can run longer. This guide sets out honest, hedged norms for each.

The short answer

If you want a number to start from, use 30 to 60 seconds. That range fits the way most buyers watch: long enough to walk the layout and linger on the rooms that matter, short enough that they reach the end rather than swiping away halfway. But treat it as a starting point, not a rule. A quick teaser in a Story can be ten seconds; a full tour of a six-bedroom home on YouTube can run several minutes. The right length is the one that suits the channel and the property in front of you — so the rest of this guide breaks it down rather than pretending one figure covers everything.

Why shorter usually wins

On a portal and on social alike, attention is scarce. A buyer scrolling Rightmove or a feed is deciding in a second or two whether to keep watching, and a slow, exhaustive walkthrough that opens the front gate and narrates every cupboard loses them before the good rooms arrive. The job of the video is not to replace the viewing — it's to stop the scroll and make someone want to book one. A tight cut that shows the layout and the best two or three rooms does that far better than a long, complete tour. Leave the buyer wanting to see the rest in person; that's the point of the exercise.

That's also why "longer equals more value" is the wrong instinct. Every extra ten seconds you add is ten more seconds in which a viewer can drop off. Cut anything that doesn't earn its place, lead with strength, and trust the still gallery and the viewing to fill in the detail. Shorter, sharper and finished beats long, slow and exhaustive almost every time.

Length & format by channel

The single biggest factor in how long your video should be is where it's going to play. Each channel rewards a different length and a different shape. Here's the practical breakdown.

Treat those figures as well-established norms rather than hard limits. They reflect how each channel tends to behave, not a guarantee — test against your own audience and adjust. The shapes, though, are firmer: portals and YouTube want 16:9, Reels, TikTok and Stories want 9:16, and the Instagram feed reads well square. Match the shape to the channel and you avoid the awkward black bars or hard crops that make a listing look like an afterthought.

How property type changes length

Length should flex with the home, not just the channel. A studio, a one-bed flat or a compact terrace has fewer rooms to show, so a shorter cut tells the whole story without padding — stretching it out only invites a viewer to look away. A larger family home, a five- or six-bed with grounds, or a distinctive period property has more to walk through and more to sell, so it can justify a longer cut that lingers on the standout rooms and the outside space.

A genuine flagship home is the one case where a longer, more cinematic piece pays off, especially on YouTube or your own site. For everyday stock — the bulk of most agents' listings — keep it tight. The discipline is the same either way: let the property earn each second rather than filling time because the runtime feels short.

The hook matters more than the length

Whatever the total runtime, the first few seconds carry most of the weight. A buyer decides almost immediately whether to keep watching, so open on the strongest room — the room that would sell the home on a viewing — rather than a long title card or a slow exterior approach. A great fifteen-second cut with a strong opening beats a flabby sixty-second one that takes half a minute to get going. Get the hook right and the exact length matters far less than people assume.

One asset, every length and format

The catch with all of this is obvious: a single listing might need a 16:9 portal cut, a 9:16 vertical for Reels and TikTok, a square for the feed, and a short teaser for Stories. Re-editing each one by hand, per listing, is exactly the kind of work that stops agents bothering with video at all.

Listingly removes that step. From a single render it exports a 16:9 landscape master, a 9:16 vertical and a 1:1 square, so you produce the right length and shape for each channel without re-cutting anything. Make it once, then post the portal version to Rightmove, the vertical to social and a longer cut to YouTube — all from the same source. Start with a free video and see the formats for yourself.

Common questions