Chicago Brokerages Scramble as VHT Studio Closes

One of the Chicago area’s most relied-on residential real estate vendors is shuttering operations, and brokerages are rushing to fill the gap.

VHT Studios, which has provided listing photos for an estimated 70 percent of the metro’s homes for sale, will cease operations on Aug. 31 and stop taking new orders after Aug. 5, according to a surprise announcement last week, Crain’s reported.

The Rosemont-based firm has been a go-to for Chicago-area agents for nearly three decades, and its abrupt departure is forcing brokerages to find quick replacements during a key stretch of the home-selling season. It comes three years after 3D-scanning tech company Matterport bought VHT Studios in 2022 and a little over a year since CoStar Group in turn acquired Matterport in April 2024.

“We were absolutely blindsided,” said Laura Ellis, president of residential sales at Baird & Warner.

Ellis received VHT’s announcement on a Tuesday and had hired its account manager, Shannon Lange, by Thursday to launch an in-house photo services department. By Sunday, the firm had added two more staffers with the goal of making sure agents “feel very little difference” in operations by the time VHT stops accepting orders.

Ellis estimates Baird & Warner’s new photography unit will cost about $500,000 annually, roughly what it had been paying VHT to shoot 80 percent of its 5,000 to 7,000 annual listings.

VHT’s parent company, CoStar, said the closure was a strategic decision to cut losses and shift focus to Matterport, its 3D imaging subsidiary. VHT brought in $14 million in revenue last year but lost over $10 million, CoStar CEO Andrew Florance said.

Other large brokerages said they’re better positioned to adapt. Coldwell Banker will steer agents toward alternate vendors via its Listing Concierge platform. @properties Christie International Real Estate’s and Jameson Sotheby’s said they already have relationships with other photography partners.

But the shutdown leaves uncertainty for roughly 100 freelance photographers who previously worked with VHT in the region. Coldwell’s Chicago president, Ayoub Rabah, said he hopes many are absorbed by other agencies.

The shift underscores brokerages’ growing reliance on streamlined marketing tech. CoStar’s retreat from traditional photography, even as listing quality remains paramount, highlights a changing calculus in real estate services, where vendor losses create more vertically integrated solutions in addition to operational headaches.

— Judah Duke