Swimming Pools Add Value to Homes, Study Shows

Homes with a swimming pool typically see a listing price about 8% higher than similar homes in the same neighborhood without a pool and the premium has been on the rise, according to Realtor.com®.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the extra value added to a house with a pool was declining, according to Realtor.com’s analysis. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, listings with a pool saw the additional value fall from around 10% to 6%. The pool price increase started in 2021, saw a slight slump with increased mortgage rates in 2022, then increased afterward.

Realtor.com looked at listing data from the past year and back to 2017. They compared the price per square foot for homes with a pool and those without and identified the top 10 metropolitan areas where sellers list their homes with the largest pool price premiums. There was only one Pennsylvania city on the top 10 list.

Pittsburgh ranked No. 5 with a median single-family home list price of $225,000 and had a swimming pool premium of 11.5%. Topping the list was Fort Myers, Fla., with a median list price of $539,000 and a pool premium of 20.4%.

“From my experience, swimming pools can be a big ‘wow factor,’” according to PAR’s District 10 Vice President Jim Jarrett, also a member of the Realtors® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh. “It’s a bonus to many families, a gathering place to socialize with friends and family for parties, barbecues and picnics. However, some families look at it as an unwanted maintenance expense.”

“All that said, even with our area’s abbreviated swim season, compared to other warmer climates, I do find that swimming pools can add value to a property and are desirable to many families,” he added.

According to Angi, the average cost to install an inground pool is $60,350, noting that most homeowners spend between $41,750 and $80,000. The average cost to build an above-ground pool is $3,350, with costs generally ranging from $700 to $5,000.

To identify the price premiums of single-family homes with a pool today, Realtor.com reviewed their listing data from the past year and looked at data going back to 2017. They considered the price per square foot of homes with a pool and those without and compared only homes with the same number of bedrooms and within the same ZIP code. This ensured we weren’t comparing modest homes to mansions and accounting for price differences from one community to another.