Outdoor Lighting
Bleck Architects

Home Features that Sell

Outdoor LivingTrends: New Home Features that Sell

Are you building a new home? Remodeling your current home and want to know the latest trends? You’ll want to invest your time and money in adding home features that matter to potential buyers!

Although our firm doesn’t focus on residential architecture, we are all homeowners too! All of us want to invest in home features that matter to potential home buyers. What are the new trends in single-family homes? How are newly built homes different from homes of the recent past? Let’s take a look!

New Home Features that Sell Homes

  • Kitchens – We spend more time than ever in our kitchens, so it makes sense to invest our dollars there. Large open kitchens with modern amenities are more desirable than ever.
  • Bedrooms – 20 years ago families were bigger, right? In 1994, the average new home had 3 bedrooms. Today’s family is smaller but their living space includes 4 bedrooms.
  • Outdoor Living – In the last 4 years, porches, patios and outdoor living spaces have become more popular.
  • Bathrooms – We love our bathrooms! Go ahead and spring for a new bath – 36% of today’s new homes have 3+ baths. 20 years ago, about the same percentage of homes had only 2 baths.
  • Fireplaces – New home construction is heating up in the South. Perhaps that’s why fewer new homes include a fireplace (49% vs. 59% 20 years ago).
  • Square Footage – Surprise! New home buyers are NOT looking for homes that are larger than they were 10 years ago. In fact, new homes are the same size (1,800-2,399 square feet). No change.

bathroomHow Have Prices Changed?

Our homes are our biggest investment and many of us use our home equity to help finance our retirement. So price changes are a big deal – how have home prices changed in the last 20 years?

Maybe it’s because today’s homes have more luxury amenities and integrated technology – today’s homes are MUCH more expensive – even adjusting for inflation. The average price of a new home 20 years ago was $154,500, which is $191,300 less than the average price of a new home today ($345,800).

Key Take-Aways

If you are building a house or planning a remodeling project, you’ll want to consider these key take-aways:

  • More new homes now have 4 bedrooms and 3+ baths.
  • Although half of new homes have fireplaces, they are decreasing in popularity.

Invest your time and money in adding home features that matter to potential buyers.

For more statistics and resources, check out this interesting infographic, The Evolution of the American Home, a snapshot of newly built single-family houses based on facts from the US Census Bureau.