How much value does a pool add to your property’s sale price?

From granny flats to kitchen renovations and even new driveways, Aussies love to look for property upgrades that will increase the overall value of their property.

After all, renovations are a great way to make your home more functional, comfortable and liveable.

Have you ever wondered if adding a swimming pool is one of the most cost-effective ways to build your equity?

According to Ray White's analysis, building a swimming pool generally adds value to the property by the amount it costs to build.

So, if you install a swimming pool for $50,000 you can expect your house price to increase by a minimum of $50,000.

But house price growth beyond that is hard to quantify.

That’s because there are many factors that impact values, such as sales in different economic environments, changing demographics of interested buyers, climate, location, renovations to other areas of the house and so on.

Therefore, Ray White's analysis is unable to show whether adding a swimming pool will boost your house's value more than its cost of construction or more than an alternative improvement such as a granny flat.

But what is clear is that demand for swimming pools is steadily increasing.

Nearly 300,000 additional Australians have been living with a swimming pool since 2018 according to Roy Morgan.

And the term ‘swimming pool’ has been the highest ranked search term in many property listing websites for the past four years, reinforcing their high demand from many prospective buyers, the data shows.

And when a property appeals to more buyers it creates stronger competition potentially pushing up its selling prices.

Suburbs where swimming pools are the most popular

While it may be unknown exactly how much a swimming pool will increase your house value, it seems worthwhile to add a swimming pool into your backyard if you live in one of these suburbs or states with the most swimming pools.

Not having a swimming pool in these suburbs will put your home in a weaker position when competing with other homes when it comes time to sell, Ray White says.

At a state level, the Northern Territory stands out as where swimming pools are the most popular, with 45% of all its listings over the past two years featuring a swimming pool.

Meanwhile, in Tasmania, being Australia’s coldest state, only 3% of listings featured a swimming pool over the same period.

Source: Ray White

Meanwhile, on a suburb level, another state dominates the data.

Of the 10 suburbs that have recorded the highest number of houses listed with swimming pools over the last 2 years, 8 are located in Queensland.

Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, which has a median $1.06 million house price, saw 573 listings including a swimming pool.

Upper Coomera and Helensvale, both on the Gold Coast, come in second and third place with 431 and 416 listings including a pool over the same time period.

In fourth place, and the first non-Queensland suburb on the list is Port Macquarie on New South Wales’ north coast.

Data shows 401 listings in the suburb included a pool - the median for the area is $840,000.

St Ives in Sydney is the only other non-QLD suburb on the list, and the second in NSW.

The suburb, with a $2.95 million median, saw 318 listings including a pool over the 2-year time period.

Source: Ray White/CoreLogic

What to watch out for

While swimming pools are in demand in some states right, it’s worth remembering that whatever you decide to do, one of the biggest risks with renovating your house is the potential for over-capitalisation.

This is especially the case if your swimming pool build plans get out of hand.

The cost of more advanced renovations is high and sometimes homeowners will end up with a home that owes them far more than they are likely to get back if they had to sell it.

Likewise, if you build a pool that absorbs all your available land, you will have no other outside space.

So whatever changes you make, be sure you plan effectively, create a budget… and stick to it.

About Joseph Ballota Joseph is a Property Coach who put hundreds of people on the road towards wiping away their mortgage in under 5 years through expert Property Investment Plans.