New Home Luxury Features
There are so many great design ideas to choose from when building a new home. From outdoor kitchens to elevators, the options are endless. For most people, this choice is viewed as a huge benefit over buying an existing home that’s already complete. But for those of us that tend to overanalyze things, this great endless opportunity can add major stress to our dream project. Here we take a look at some of the top luxury features that buyers say they want in their homes to hopefully give you some insight for your own choices.
Top Luxury Features
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently conducted a survey, What Home Buyers Really Want, that asked home buyers to rate new home features. The home buyers were asked to rate a list of luxury features for new homes. For this discussion, we will focus on the black and white selections by the survey takers. In other words, the survey takers said…yes, it’s essential my new home has this feature. The study also broke down the responses into groups…those with a new home price range less than $150k and those over $500k. Obviously the survey leaves out a big chunk of buyers between those two price points. However, it does give us an interesting look at how these two different groups view luxury features. Here’s a look at the results…
- Kitchen with Warming Drawer: 42% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus 23% in the <$150K price range. Just in case you aren’t familiar with warming drawers, they keep food items warm while the rest of the dinner cooks. Sometimes they can be added to a range in lieu of the bottom storage drawer or incorporated into a custom cabinet layout.
- Two Story Family Room: 32% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus 18% in the <$150k price range. Two story family rooms can add big impact, but they are expensive as you are reducing the second floor square footage. They can also be energy hogs in cold weather climates.
- Kitchen with Wine Chiller: 46% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus just 15% in the <$150k price range. This is a nice feature for wine drinkers…but can be an expensive waste of space for everyone else. If you are interested in one of these, check out our video Wine Bar Installation.
- Outdoor Kitchen: 49% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus just 27% in the <$150k price range. These can range from a built-in grill to a full kitchen with refrigerator, sink, grille and stove. Of course weatherproofing the kitchen is essential in cold weather climates.
- Elevator: 28% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus just 10% in the <$150K price range. Some view this as a luxury feature whereas it can have more of an accessibility focus for aging buyers.
- Wet Bar: 42% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus just 21% in the <$150K price range.
- Exercise Room: 48% rated this feature essential in the $500k+ price range…versus just 28% in the <$150K price range.
Don’t be intimidated by this list. Your home doesn’t need to have an elevator or a warming drawer for you to achieve your dreams. This list is just something to get you thinking. The best part is when you build own new home, you can create exactly what you want.
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