Real estate marketing trends get talked about a lot, but most of what changes year to year is incremental. Here’s what’s genuinely shifted for Sydney agents in 2026, separated from what’s just being repackaged as “new.”

Short-form video has stopped being optional

Where video was once a premium add-on reserved for higher-end listings, short-form video content is now expected across most price points, largely driven by how much reach social platforms give video over static photos. Agents who’ve built video into every listing’s standard package, rather than treating it as an upsell, are seeing more consistent engagement across their whole portfolio, not just their flagship listings.

Aerial imagery is being used earlier in the process

Drone photography used to be reserved for acreage and waterfront listings almost exclusively. It’s now showing up on a wider range of standard suburban listings too, partly because aerial photography costs have come down and partly because it photographs well as social content, not just for showing land size.

Buyers expect more transparency, not more polish

Interestingly, the trend isn’t toward more heavily produced marketing — buyers are increasingly wary of listings that look overly polished or digitally altered, and agents are responding by leaning into more authentic, less obviously “produced” photography and video. This is part of why the debate around AI-enhanced photography has become more prominent this year — buyers can tell, and it affects trust.

Local, suburb-specific content is outperforming broad campaigns

Generic “Sydney real estate” content is being outperformed by hyper-local content — suburb-specific video, local market commentary, and area-specific hashtags are getting meaningfully better engagement than broader campaigns, reflecting how much more targeted social algorithms have become at surfacing locally relevant content.

Want your next listing built around what’s actually working in 2026? Get in touch with our team.