What value does a pool add to a home in Ottawa
by Dave Williams
Traditional real estate thinking dictates that pools don’t add value to your home when selling it. Although you’ll spend money installing it, there are regular maintenance costs and drawbacks to owning a pool that offset any value gained. Throw in the argument that not all people are pool people, which is very true, and you are also cutting out a segment of the market, suddenly your home appeals to less people and lowers your chances of selling.
However, the remaining buyers, people who can appreciate a pool have a distinct change of paying a premium for your home as it offers a finished product rather than just the opportunity.
So what do homes with a pool sell for?
The average home sale in Orleans this year was $371,951 and sold in 27 days. The average home with a pool sold for $93,000 more and took 3 more days to sell.
The average home sale in Kanata was $379,266 and sold in 27 days, the average home with a pool commanded $151,000 more and still sold in 27 days.
Farther out in Stittsville the average home sold for $437,767 in 28 days, and the average home with a pool sold for $568,975 ($131,000) more in the same time frame.
Average home sales in Barrhaven rode in at a reasonable $369,557 and sold in 30 days. A home with a pool in Barrhaven sold for $147,000 more…but took an extra 19 days (49 total) to sell.
The south end, Riverside South and Hunt Club’s average sales price was $418,960 and average Days to sell was 30. Throw in a pool in the south end and the average sales price rose by $42,000 and sold 4 days faster!
What I found astounding when researching these figures is that across all these subdivisions a home with a pool sells on average for $110,000 more than a home without. However that got me thinking, it’s not like you can just install a $35,000 pool and ask $110,000 more for your home…so why do they sell for so much more?
First of all to install a pool you need a certain amount of backyard, and access. Which removes a large % of the entry level homes for the possibility of even having a pool, and also explains why when we just look at above ground pool homes the average price drops. You really need the space a larger lot offers in order to install a pool, which means homes with pools are really second tier residences (ie, not typically first time buyer’s homes).
So what do you think, does a pool add value to your home when selling? or make it harder to sell?
Weigh in with your opinion in the comments.
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