What home features do buyers want and are willing to pay for?

By Jeff Zeman, HouseInvestor.net

Last week I wrote an article that stated that new homes are in fact getting larger, not smaller as many experts have predicted.  A recently published study by the National Association of Home Builders outlines this trend as well as other preferences buyers are willing to pay for when buying a new house. Here are some of the highlights:

·         Buyers want larger homes - about 17 percent bigger than what they have now.

·         For many, 25%, the size of the lot is not important when choosing a home.

·         Nearly half (47 percent) want a three bedroom house, while 32 percent want a fourth bedroom. The majority of respondents (65 percent) prefer either 2 or 2½ bathrooms.

·         Sixty-six percent of buyers want to have a full or partial basement.

·         Buyers are most interested in two themes: energy efficiency and organization/storage in their homes. Energy-star rated appliances and windows, as well as a laundry room and garage storage, are wanted by the vast majority of home buyers. When rating windows, the top three most wanted types/materials are all explicitly related to saving energy: more than two-thirds of buyers want energy-star rated windows, triple pane insulating glass, and low-e insulating glass.

·         In the kitchen, a walk-in pantry, table space for eating, and a double sink are considered essential/desirable by 84 percent or more of all buyers. On the other hand, a wine cooler and laminate countertops are rejected by at least 40 percent of buyers.

·         Eighty percent of respondents think that it is either desirable or essential to have an exhaust fan, a linen closet, and both a shower stall and a tub in the master bath. Key negatives included having only a shower stall in the master bath as well as having both His and Her baths. Eighty one percent of buyers want a full bath on the main level.

·         The laundry room is the most indispensable of all specialty rooms, as 57 percent consider it to be essential.

·         The three most wanted outdoor features are exterior lighting (rated essential/desirable by 90 percent of buyers), a patio (83 percent), and a front porch (80 percent). Outdoor kitchens are now out of fashion.

·         Accessibility features wanted by most buyers include doorways at least 3 feet wide and hallways at least 4 feet wide.

·         Nearly half of respondents said that they would prefer some space to remain unfinished if that meant the home was more affordable.  Roughly equal shares would accept a home farther away from shopping or entertainment (38 percent) or a smaller house (37 percent) to improve affordability.

·         Most said they would choose a smaller house with high quality products and amenities rather than a bigger house with fewer amenities.

·         Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of buyers do not care to live in a central city, as only 8 percent report that as their preferred location. Instead, more than a third – 36 percent – would prefer to buy in an outlying suburb, 30 percent in a close-in suburb, and 27 percent in a rural area.

Features that buyers do not want include an elevator, golf course  or gated communities, wine coolers, wet bars, laundry chute, outdoor kitchen, two story rooms, game rooms,  and glass front cabinets.

To read more about issues affecting Montgomery County residential real estate, visit my blog, HouseInvestor.net.

 Image courtesy of boston design-build Beaconstreet Builders, Inc.