Fancy a dip? Here’s how much value pools add to homes

By matt-amico April 8, 2019

New analysis looks at areas where pools demand a premium

How much extra would you pay for a house with pool?

In Los Angeles, a pool can add over $95,390 to a property’s value, while in Austin, Texas, the water feature could boost the value by over $50,220, a new analysis by Redfin has found.

To work out how much value a pool can add to a home, Redfin ranked metro areas where at least 5,000 homes had sold in 2018 and more than 2 percent of homes had pools. (Only places with statistically significant results were included in the ranking.)

The index’s highest-ranked metro was L.A., where a pool adds an estimated $56.45 to a property’s average price-per-square foot.

“In some parts of Los Angeles, particularly in the San Fernando Valley, it’s almost a given that a house will have a pool and the lack of a pool can make it harder to sell,” said Redfin agent Lindsey Katz. “Nearly half of my listings have pools, and when they don’t, potential buyers are constantly asking whether they can add a pool to the property.”

California cities dominated the study’s top 15, with the Sunshine State’s cities trailing in second. The study’s highest-ranked metro area in Florida was Fort Lauderdale where a pool was found to add nearly $37,000 to a typical home’s value.

The only metro area included in the study where a pool detracted from the value of a property was Boston, where a home with a pool costs $15,484 less than one without. [Redfin] – Decca Muldowney THE REAL DEAL