Will a pool add value to my home?

It’s very easy to speculate on just how much a pool adds value to a property. Especially when as a pool builder it’s to your own profound advantage to talk up your industry. I am not sure of the exact value and numbers as a percentage of house price etc. but I have observed the following actions within the property marketplace:

• If a house is being sold and if it has even a half decent pool and outdoor entertaining area then a picture of the pool will be front and centre on the advertising board placed at the front of the property.
• Display homes built by builders nearly always have pools that are disproportionately valued against the homes they are built alongside. By this I mean $250,000 kit homes from Porter Davis often have $100,000 pools in the backyard. Upmarket prestige display homes always have pools.

Case in point, this home and in-ground pool built by Porter Davis in outer suburban Pakenham. This relatively humble home is fitted with the sort of pool and outdoor area normally seen in Melbourne’s leafy Eastern suburbs.

I think I can explain my observances as per the following: pools don’t have an intrinsic value. Their value is extrinsic and aspirational. They represent a view of how life should be lived with a never ending summer – right in your own backyard. So by purchasing a house with an already existing in-ground pool or buying a home as a result of viewing a display home – you can aspire to the dream, a piece at a time.

For an alternative opinion and some more information, check out this article.