NAR’s 2013 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences features plenty of details on what homebuyers want in new homes – and how much they’ll pay for them.

The National Association of Realtors’ 2013 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences is one the largest, most complete studies of what preferences homebuyers have when purchasing their residences.

Sampling homebuyers who purchased their residence between 2010 and 2012, the survey is so thorough that we’ve split our coverage of its finding across two posts. Our first story dealt with what features homebuyers most desired in their new homes, and our second story looks at the flip-side of that scenario – how much homebuyers were willing to pay for some of those features.

2013 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences – Show Me the Money

Central air conditioning was the No. 1 wish list item for homebuyers, and NAR found that they were will to pay a premium for homes with the feature:

• Sixty-nine percent of homebuyers who purchased homes without central AC, in fact, were will to pay an extra $2,520 for a home with the feature.
• New kitchen appliances and a walk-in closet also demanded premiums, with 69 percent of buyers reporting they’d pay $1,840 for the former feature, and 60 percent reporting they’d pay $1,350 for the latter.
• Waterfront properties also commanded an additional fee, with a full third of homebuyers willing to pay an extra $5,420 for such residences; new construction properties received similar priorities, with 40 percent of buyers willing to pay $5,020 more for a newer property.

 Room by Room

On the more micro level, certain kinds of rooms also warranted greater interest from homebuyers. Thirty-three percent of homebuyers, for instance, were willing to pay $3,200 more for a home with a basement; 20 percent were will to pay $2,920 more for a home with an in-law suite; and finally, 63 percent of homebuyers who purchased homes without laundry rooms were willing to pay $1,590 for the amenity, while homeowners without a den/study/home office/library were willing to cough up $1,920 for a home with such a feature.

As the new construction markets return to form, it will be interesting to see how homebuilders choose to incorporate these findings, and, perhaps more interestingly, how the features impact the price of the properties.