Buyers Dish Out More Cash for High-End Kitchen and Bath Features

Typically, higher-end, custom home features are associated with slower sales, but so-called fixer-uppers bore the brunt of sluggish sales, according to a Zillow analysis of 2019 and 2020 sales. With more Americans spending time at home, two of the most used areas of the home, kitchens and baths, have gained much more interest when it comes to home sales. Listings advertising higher-end kitchen and bathroom amenities sold for more than listing price in 2020, says Zillow, while fixer-upper homes sold for nearly 13% less than expected. Features such as pizza ovens, quartz countertops, new appliances, smart appliances, and butcher blocks fetched the most interest and sale price premiums.

Outside the kitchen, listings that mentioned “curbless” — for showers flush with the bathroom floor — fetched 3.6% more. “Modern farmhouse” styles also brought in about 3.6% more than expected, and heated floors or radiant heat — to warm your feet on a cold bathroom floor — were associated with a 3.2% sale price premium. 

At the other end of the spectrum, self-described fixer-upper homes fetched 12.9% less than expected; those that admitted needing some “TLC” brought in 11.1% less; and ones marketed for their “investment” prospects sold for 4.5% less than expected.

And while 2020 also brought a wave of newly-adopted pandemic pets, and despite the premium associated with “dog house,” “pet-friendly” listings experienced a 2.2% discount. “Bike parking” was associated with a 2% negative premium. This could be because these features were correlated with small indoor spaces in large multifamily buildings, which otherwise underperformed larger single-family homes in 2020.

Read More