What home features increasingly appeal to buyers? To try to find out, residential real estate company Redfin has been tracking the terms that show up most frequently in home listings, as a guide to homeowners looking to improve the marketability of their properties. And it's seeing smart-home elements and built-in bars among the hottest home improvements for 2017, based how many more times they were touted in 2016 than in previous years.
To be clear, that doesn't necessarily mean that homebuyers are requesting those features — or that the cost of installing a bar, for instance, would be the best investment — but more home sellers and/or their agents seem to perceive those items as desirable.
In the frequency with they're still mentioned, free-standing bathtubs and quartz counter tops continue to display broad appeal. There was nearly a 62% increase last year in the share of listings containing the term "free-standing tub," which Redfin sees as signaling a recent remodel and "more of a luxury item since it isn't necessarily a 'needed' amenity in a home."
Quartz, meanwhile, saw a 53% rise, though there also was a gain for marble.
Also seen as maintaining their popularity are stainless steel appliances, which have "become somewhat of a status symbol," Redfin says, as well as another indicator of recent remodel.
Smart Home, Smart Choice?
"Smart home features have been coming and going in terms of popularity since 2012," according to the company. But the term "smart home" went from a 30% year-over-year spike in 2015 to climb by 41% in 2016, which Redfin credits to the "ever-increasing intelligence of home technology ... . People seem to love easy and efficient, which is the name of the game when it comes to home technology."
The term "built-in bar" also has made a comeback. Starting at 7.9% in 2011 (Redfin's baseline year in its guide to tracking the terms), its frequency fell by -2% in 2012. It then edged up by 0.1% the next year, before seeing a 5.4% rise in 2014.
That tailed off to only a 3.9% increase in 2015, but listings that mention a bar have since bounced back by 7.5% last year. Redfin sees that as stemming from an increase in "homeowners who like to have guests over, "since a built-in bar gives them a "special space for everything you could need to host a party, such as wine and cocktail glasses, cocktail fixings and anything else for a ritzy gathering."
Trending in the opposite direction, for now at least, is the breakfast nook, bamboo flooring, and "minimalist living."
Of the "minimalist" trend, which Redfin describes as characterized by uncluttered spaces with "open floor plans" and "neutral tones," it's down from a peak in 2015, but the company points out that "it's hard to tell whether it's just a fad or if it will stand the test of time," since it's especially popular among millennials and may continue to be in demand as more of them enter the housing market.
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