Painting your house is an easy upgrade to make, which is one reason nearly a third of homeowners do so before putting theirs on the market. While many may be tempted to go with white or beige to keep it simple, new research from Zillow suggests that would be a mistake. But picking the right colors for your walls could help sellers make even more money.
Zillow surveyed thousands of recent and prospective home buyers to find out which colors are the most desirable. It turns out, buyers prefer colors that stand out, like dramatic shades of green, blue and gray, over white.
- The study finds that buyers may pay as much as $2,590 for homes with the right interior paint colors. So, what shades are they looking for?
- Buyers like a green kitchen, and dark olive green is the top choice. They’d pay $1,597 more for a home with cabinets painted this color.
- As for the bedroom, navy blue is a favorite. Zillow finds that a bedroom painted that color can increase a home’s sales price by $1,815.
- Charcoal gray is the preferred color for living rooms, and homes that feature dark gray walls in the living room could sell for $2,593 more.
- On the flip side, the wrong color can cost sellers thousands of dollars. The research reveals that recent and prospective buyers would pay nearly $4-thousand less for a daisy yellow kitchen or living room, and almost $2-thousand less for a living room or bedroom that’s fire hydrant red.