To get a better grasp on what features buyers really want in a home, Zolo Realty surveyed more than 1,800 respondents in January 2019. The results show that buyers are no longer dazzled by HGTV-inspired living spaces or add-on luxuries such as pools.
Turns out homebuyers — both male and female — are more interested in properties with a garage, an en suite and main-floor bathroom and a newer furnace or A/C unit.
“Buyers aren’t foolish. Updating a kitchen and removing walls is a lot of work, but these updates are not as hard or as costly as trying to carve out a bathroom for a master bedroom or building a garage from scratch,” explains Mustafa Abbasi, President of Zolo Realty.
Turns out men and women do agree on what makes the ideal home: A 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a master bedroom en suite and a garage.
- 51% of women and 41% of men ranked a garage as a must-have
- while 39% of men and 30% of women considered an en suite as a necessity.
Yet, there were a few differences in the other “must have” features men and women wanted. For instance, women prioritized:
- Updated kitchens (39%)
- Updated HVAC (38%),
- and a fenced in yard (38%)
Men preferred:
- Main floor bathroom (38%)
- Updated HVAC (32%)
- Energy saving appliances (31%)
The data used to determine these results came from findings of the Zolo Homebuyers’ Survey 2019, an online survey conducted in January 2019. The survey asked 1,854 North American respondents about their homebuyer behavior and desires. The estimated margin of error is +/- 2.28 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
