Boston luxury condo home sellers: If you didn’t already know, a new coat of paint is a great home improvement project to impress buyers. Fresh paint, applied skillfully and with attention to detail, can make a home look brand-new and up-to-date without breaking the bank. In my experience as Boston condo real estate agent, nothing produces a better return on your money than cleaning, re-arranging furniture, and painting.
If you’re on the fence about repainting the interior of your home before listing it on the Boston high rise condo market, some numbers from Zillow’s 2018 Paint Color Analysis may help. The website giant examined more than 135,000 photos from residential properties that have sold between 2010 and May 2018. Controlling for square footage, the age of the home, the date of the transaction and location, the study compared the sale prices of homes with white walls to those with other paint colors. The results focus on three key rooms in the house: Living room, bathroom, and kitchen.
“Pinkish Taupe” Gets a Premium in the Living Room
The Paint Color Analysis found that living rooms nationwide are selling for more when painted a “warm tan with pink undertones”, a color Zillow is calling pinkish taupe. This color sent the average home price up by 1.3 percent, more than any other living room color. That translates to nearly $2,800 more for the average home.
If you’re not familiar with taupe, it’s the color a shade darker than beige with a hint of gray mixed in. The red undertones that create “pinkish taupe” are a real asset because not only does the pink element prevent the color from being another boring “greige”, but it also means there is a whole spectrum of complementary and coordinating colors to play with. When styling or staging your Boston condo for sale, try coordinating your pinkish taupe living room with warm red accents. Or, to downplay the pink, use complementary blues or greens.
Periwinkle Bathrooms are the Magic Home Price Booster
Why paint the whole living room when you could get the same price boost, on average, by coating your bathroom with periwinkle? That’s right, add an extra 1.3 percent to the sale price of homes that have this color going on in the powder room or master bath.
Periwinkle is an elegant shade between lavender and light blue; a calming color that’s easy to get along with. Pair with neutrals for a beachy theme, or go modern with silver and grey.
Portland Loves This Kitchen Color
Zillow found that when Boston high rise condo kitchens are painted blue, they sell for a whopping 6.8% more. Why does Portland love blue kitchens? Blue is modern and fresh, but calming and welcoming. There are so many shades of blue to choose from, and it goes with just about every kitchen style, from country to contemporary.
Colors to Avoid: Inside and Out
Not sure if the above colors will work in your Boston luxury condo? Standard real estate agent advice is that any neutral shade will do, but Zillow Paint Color Analysis does have some shades to definitely avoid:
- Brick or raspberry red in the kitchen. These colors were found to sell homes for $2,300 less than expected.
- Brown in the dining room. Even lighter shades like oat are voted down by buyers, to the tune of $1,700 on average.
- Yellow on the exterior. Yellow homes sold for about $2,300 less.
Want to learn more about which exterior paint color will sell for more? Check out our blog post here.
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