For years, real estate marketing relied on the same set of specs: square footage, finish packages, price per square foot. Those details still matter, but they no longer close the deal on their own. The properties breaking through today are the ones selling a feeling instead — a rhythm of daily life, a brand world, a sense of belonging that can't be replicated down the street. We asked marketers and publicists how they're moving buyers from thinking about the size of a space to imagining the life they'd have inside it.
Trish Varker-Miles, Director, TNA
Photo credit: Armani x Lendlease - The Cove Residence - One Circular Quay
“For the developers I work with, price and square metres still matter, but they're rarely what wins a buyer over. At the luxury end of the market, the numbers are easy to find on plenty of properties. What makes one stand out is how it will let someone live, the feel of a morning there, the people in the lift, the design they wake up to - that is what I am really promoting.
“Branded residences show this best, because they give a buyer a whole brand world. When Armani or a hotel name goes on a building, you're buying a way of living that the brand has spent years getting right. Developers are now also building their own brand worlds under their own name, without a fashion or hotel partner, creating an identity and a way of life for their projects. When it's done well, buyers fall for that world long before they look at a floor plan.
“Price and specifications still count, but we start with the life a place offers, its craftsmanship and its setting, and bring the numbers in after that.”
Amy Rossetti, CEO, R[AR]E Public Relations
"The days of securing media coverage simply because a property is expensive or architecturally beautiful are largely behind us. Those attributes may open the door, but they're rarely enough to carry a story. Today's media landscape demands narratives that connect a property to broader cultural, economic and lifestyle conversations. Our job as publicists is to uncover what makes a property relevant beyond its walls and position it within the conversations journalists are already covering. Whether it's the vision behind a redevelopment, an emerging design movement, a project responding to an economic or housing need, shifting buyer behavior, or the people transforming a community, the most compelling real estate stories are the ones that provide context and meaning beyond the property itself. That's what transforms real estate into a story worth telling."
Heidi Ruggier, CEO & Founder, Matte PR
Photo credit: Jesse Laver for Engel & Völkers Vancouver
“Real estate has always understood that buying a home is an emotional decision, but we're seeing lifestyle move beyond marketing language and become a true area of specialization. A home's value isn't defined solely by its square footage; it's shaped by how people live, move and connect within it, and by the community that surrounds it.
“At Engel & Völkers, we're seeing advisors build expertise around specific lifestyles rather than simply property types — from ski, golf, ranch, wine, equestrian and mountain communities to serving professional athletes and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Each requires a different level of market knowledge, communication style and client experience. In the luxury space especially, discretion, relationships and understanding a client's way of life have become just as important as understanding the home itself.
“The future of real estate marketing isn't simply about selling a lifestyle, it's about authentically understanding one.”
Katie Breest, Founder, Agency PR
“For years, residential real estate was marketed almost exclusively through specifications: square footage, finish packages, amenity lists, and price per square foot. Today, those features are largely table stakes. The projects breaking through are differentiating themselves by the lives they enable rather than the spaces they occupy.
“We're watching residential borrow a page from hospitality. Hotels don't simply sell a room; they sell a feeling, a community, and a point of view. Increasingly, residential developers are doing the same. The question is no longer, 'How nice is the apartment?' It's, 'What kind of life happens here?'
“One of the strongest examples we've worked on is FLORA RiNo in Denver. Instead of adding another rooftop deck or golf simulator to compete with neighboring buildings, the developer embedded a year-round artist residency into the community itself. Residents live alongside working musicians, visual artists, and chefs, with exhibitions, performances, workshops, and open studios becoming part of everyday life. The artists aren't entertainment brought in once a month; they're neighbors. That's a fundamentally different value proposition. It transforms culture from an occasional amenity into the fabric of the building.
“We're seeing this same shift across the industry. Transit-oriented developments are no longer marketed simply as places with convenient access to rail. They're being positioned as neighborhoods where people can walk to dinner, bike to work, discover local businesses, and feel connected to the life of a city. Likewise, mass timber developments and projects designed around embodied carbon have moved beyond technical conversations about sustainability. They're telling a much more human story about craftsmanship, stewardship, and a different way of living.
“I think all of these examples point to a broader cultural shift. For a long time, the industry believed branding could compensate for mediocre buildings. We're entering the opposite era. The strongest brands will be built on genuinely better places.
“Ultimately, I think that's the biggest shift in real estate marketing. We've moved from marketing merchandise to marketing meaning. Buyers and renters increasingly want places that reflect their values as much as their needs. Amenities can always be copied by the project down the street. Identity, craftsmanship, and a genuine sense of belonging are much harder to replicate, and those are becoming the market's most valuable differentiators.”
Samantha Kornberg, Senior Vice President, M18 Public Relations, an Orchestra Company.
"Marketers shouldn't approach real estate as just bricks-and-mortar assets. The design, architecture, location, amenities, services and creative talent behind each project can tell a compelling story that illuminates its distinct character and adds a layer of human interest for brokers, end-users and local community members. Crafting a narrative around the vision for the property from its inception is key to generating excitement, and also lays the foundation that marketers need to build a lifestyle authentic to that market."
Jacque Riley, SVP - Brand Marketing, CHG
Photo credit: The Mallory
"Hospitality, retail and commercial real estate are reaching an inflection point in terms of overlap. For instance, Convene Hospitality Group welcomed nearly two million meeting and event attendees through our doors last year, and we've found that they are bringing the same expectations, taste levels and curiosity to conferences as they would to a restaurant, a concert or even a vacation. These clients want memorable, immersive, and emotion-led experiences, and that requires designing all of our touchpoints to impact how we make them feel.
"It's fair to say that CHG is leaning into the commercial real estate shift toward lifestyle experiences. We’ve always been inspired by hospitality, and we recently embedded more senior hospitality talent across our leadership team, upleveled our culinary and production offerings, and repositioned our portfolio into a house of brands inspired by the hotel space. We're embracing a world-building, lifestyle mindset because we know we're in the business of selling the magic of real life gatherings rather than transactional square footage."
Filomena Fanelli, CEO & Founder, Impact PR & Communications
“Marketing a destination around lifestyle, rather than square footage, opens the door to a much broader and more meaningful story. We represent Eastdale Village Town Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, a live-work-play community where the appeal isn’t simply the apartments and townhomes, it’s what residents have access to right outside their doors. There are locally owned restaurants and shops, healthcare and personal services, professional offices, childcare, a grocery store and a year-round calendar of community events, from farmers markets and live music to block parties – and even sporting event watch parties – and outdoor movies.
“From a PR perspective, that creates an incredible range of opportunities. Lively events and unique amenities allow us to reach beyond the people who live or work there and market Eastdale as a destination for the broader Hudson Valley community. That’s what lifestyle marketing does well: instead of asking someone to picture themselves inside a particular property, you’re helping them picture what their life could look like there.”
Dilara Tuncer, Founder & Principal, Tuncer PR
“The move beyond specifications begins with recognizing that luxury no longer has a stable vocabulary.
“Scale, privacy, imported materials, branded service and the imprimatur of a celebrated name still signify quality, but after a decade of replication across South Florida, they no longer guarantee rarity. It is a pre-pandemic, and in some respects pre-Panama Papers, language of value, formed when opacity could still read as discretion and expense as distinction. Luxury has become relative. Cultural authority is still conferred over time.
“Palm Beach makes this especially legible. Its historic houses, hotels, clubs, gardens and civic buildings acquired their stature gradually, through landscape, repeated use, careful stewardship and continuity across generations. New development arrives under nearly opposite conditions: fully visualized, narrated and valued before a community has formed around it. The contrast is not merely between old and new architecture, but between inherited significance and relevance that must still be earned.
“The most persuasive properties therefore look beyond the private interior to the broader experience they can support. Meaningful philanthropic engagement can demonstrate good faith, while recurring cultural talks, recurring salons and social gatherings, partnerships with local institutions and visits to architecturally significant or award-winning properties can create a genuine rhythm of participation. Done consistently, this kind of programming gives a residence, hotel or development an enduring role in its surroundings rather than a brief moment of attention at launch.
“Specifications can establish quality. They cannot create belonging. A credible lifestyle proposition emerges through architecture, service, stewardship and sustained participation in the place around it.”
Olivia Cyr, The Agency RE
Photo credit: The Agency RE
“Luxury real estate marketing is no longer just about square footage and finishes. It is about translating a property’s features into a vision for how someone can live. Today’s buyers are increasingly drawn to homes that support calm, connection and overall well-being, whether through restorative spaces, access to nature or a greater sense of sanctuary. As both a brokerage and a lifestyle brand, The Agency can extend those stories across its editorial and social platforms, including The Agency Magazine, The Agency Journal and The Agency Times. This allows us to lead with the lifestyle, showing not only what a home offers, but how it can make everyday life feel.”
