THIS Is What a Bathroom Is Worth on Appraisal
The total value of your home depends on a lot of things—location, square footage, amenities, the number of bedrooms, and the number of bathrooms. But how much value does a bathroom add on appraisal?
An added bathroom can greatly increase the value of your home. According to a National Association of Housing Builders (NAHB) model, bathrooms can add from 10% to 20% more value to your home. Yet, this all depends on the type of bathroom and its amenities.
In this guide, we’ll break down how much a bathroom is worth on appraisal, discuss how you can get more value from an added bathroom, and explain some of the finer details regarding half-baths, full-baths, and other industry jargon. If you are ready to reap more value from your home, let’s get into it.
How Much Does a Bathroom Add on Appraisal?
Table 1: Estimated Increase in Value After Adding Bathrooms
| STARTING WITH... | 1 Full Bath | 1 1/2 Baths | 2 Full Baths | 2 1/2 Baths | 3 Full Baths | 3 1/2 Baths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOING TO... | 1 1/2 Baths | 2 Baths | 2 1/2 Baths | 3 Baths | 3 1/2 Baths | 4 Baths |
| 2 Bedrooms | 11.5% | 10% | 10.5% | 9.5% | ||
| 3 Bedrooms | 12% | 10% | 10.5% | 9.5% | 10% | 9% |
| 4 Bedrooms | 12.5% | 10.5% | 11.0% | 9.5% | 10.5% | 9.5% |
Common sense dictates that the value of a home should be based on its characteristics. More space, better amenities, better location, and more rooms should raise the overall value of a home.
But how can we quantify just how much a bathroom is worth on appraisal?
To answer this question, the National Association of Housing Builders (NAHB) analyzed data that was collected through the American Housing Survey to come up with clear results. (The American Housing Survey is sponsored by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and conducted by the US Census Bureau).
NAHB assessed how much home values increased after installing a new bathroom. They included both half and full bathrooms to get a clearer picture of how much a single bathroom is worth.
As the table above shows, adding a half bathroom adds around 10% more value. A full bathroom adds around 20%, on average.
Note: The total percentage change in value depends on the number of bedrooms in your home. Understandably, homes with more bedrooms require more bathrooms, so if you add a second full bathroom to a four-bedroom home, it will add a little more value than a fourth bathroom in a four-bedroom home.
Recouping Your Investment in a Bathroom Remodel
The site remodeling.hw.net offers a very cool cost vs value tool that shows how much of a remodeling investment buyers recouped at the sale of their homes. It’s broken down by region of the country and room of the home.
For example, in 2021, the tool shows that nationally in the US, homeowners who did a mid-range bathroom remodel spent $24,424. They define a mid-range bath remodel as updating a 5×7’ bathroom and replacing all fixtures.
According to the tool, this investment added $14,671 to the resale value of the home, meaning the owners recouped 60.1% of their investment at the sale.
If you are considering a bathroom remodel, read our post 10 Steps to a Successful Bathroom Remodel. Then be sure to fill out the form at the bottom of this post to get genius hacks that can literally save you thousands of dollars!
What Factors Affect the Value of a Bathroom?
Keep in mind that the total value of a bathroom depends on its amenities. As Table 1 shows, half bathrooms are less valuable than full bathrooms. Let’s define these two terms:
- Half bathroom – A half bathroom has hot and cold running water and only one of the following: a flushing toilet, shower, or bath. It cannot have both a flushing toilet and a bath or shower to be considered a half-bath.
- Full bathroom – A full bathroom has hot and cold running water, a flushing toilet, a sink, and either a bathtub or a shower.
Potential home buyers look for a balance between the number of bedrooms and the number of bathrooms in a home.
Buyers realize that if a home has far more bedrooms than bathrooms, family members will have to share, causing tension and discomfort for everyone involved. So even adding a single half bathroom can increase the value of your home and make it more attractive to potential buyers.
The more closely the number of bedrooms and bathrooms match, the less valuable a bathroom becomes.
Still, even when a home has the same number of bathrooms and bedrooms, a half bath accounts for roughly 9-10% of the home’s value. Full bathrooms account for around 15-20%.
If you’re thinking of installing a basement bathroom, there are some special considerations to keep in mind. Be sure to read Why a Basement Bathroom Is Well Worth It.
What is a ¾ Bathroom?
Traditionally, bathrooms were categorized as either half or full but, recently, home builders have gotten creative and introduced new ways to add restrooms and bathing areas that don’t exactly fit the half bath and full bath model.
This is why you may have seen the term ¾ bathroom on a realty listing. But what does it mean and how can it affect the value of your home?
A ¾ –or three-quarter—bathroom can be as small as a 6 x 6 foot (1.8 meters x 1.8 meters) room or as large as a full bathroom.
The main classifying requirements come down to what sort of amenities it has. Generally speaking, three-quarter bathrooms efficiently combine everything you’d need to start your day but lack the luxury and glamor of a full bathroom.
While full bathrooms typically have a combination bathtub/shower, a sink, and a toilet, three-quarter bathrooms make do with a single toilet, standing shower and small sink. They require less space but still give you enough room to prepare for the day and take care of your business.
Because they are slightly smaller and offer fewer amenities, three-quarter bathrooms are typically reserved for guests or children.
You may have a three-quarter bathroom near your guest bedroom or next to one of the smaller rooms in your home. Half bathrooms, on the other hand, tend to be positioned off the kitchen or living room.
How Much Value Does a ¾ Bathroom Add?
If you look at Table 1 above, you’ll notice that the National Association of Home Builders left ¾ bathrooms out of its data sample. Compared to half bathrooms, ¾ bathrooms are worth more but, if you’re planning to upgrade a ¾ bathroom to a full, it likely won’t be worth the investment.
Full bathrooms are not significantly more valuable than three-quarter bathrooms.
This may sound odd but think of it from a home buyer’s perspective. Functionally, a three-quarter bathroom offers the same benefits as a full bathroom. You can bathe, prepare for the day, and use the toilet in either room.
The only difference is that a three-quarter bathroom doesn’t have a full bathtub. So, should you just tear out all your bathtubs? No!
Although many Americans prefer to shower in their daily lives, most buyers still want at least one bathtub. Think of it as a luxury feature that makes your home more sellable. The more upscale the market, the more crucial it is to have a tub in the primary bathroom.
Plus, families with small children often want at least one tub in the home. For details, read my post Keep That Tub, the Market Will Reward You!
If you want to add more value to your home without spending as much, a three-quarter bathroom could recoup your investment just as well as a full bathroom.
What is a ¼ Bathroom?
While ¾ bathrooms blend the features of half and full bathrooms, ¼ bathrooms take away a few details.
A ¼ bathroom is typically reserved for smaller spaces and only features a single amenity. Quarter bathrooms don’t take up more than a closet’s worth of space.
If you’ve ever been to a restaurant where the toilet was separate from the sink area, you’ve used a one-quarter bathroom.
One-quarter bathrooms only have a single feature—typically a toilet—making them even smaller than half bathrooms. They’re designed for guests to relieve themselves and then wash their hands at a separate sink.
Although they’re less common in family homes, one-quarter bathrooms can be a smart addition to add a little more value to your property. Sometimes homeowners will add a hallway shower or a makeup room as a ¼ bath.
How Much Value Does a ¼ Bathroom Add?
As you can probably tell, one-quarter bathrooms don’t add as much value as full or even half bathrooms. That’s not to say that they’re entirely useless, though. Although one-quarter bathrooms only offer a single feature, they still fulfill a need and make your home more attractive to buyers.
If your home is short on square footage, you may struggle to add an additional bathroom. This puts a family in the position of having to share bathroom space. Adding a single toilet or a hallway shower helps ease the burden and opens up room for everyone.
All in all, a one-quarter bathroom can add around 3-5% more value to a home. Consider it more of a selling point than a deep investment.
Do Other Features Increase the Value of a Bathroom?
Although the size and basic amenities of a bathroom set the standard for its value, they’re certainly not the only factors that determine how much it’s worth. The quality of the amenities, the amount of storage, and the addition of luxury features all increase the overall value of your bathroom.
Let’s explore a few of the main features that can increase the value of your bathroom.
Luxury Amenities
This should go without saying but higher quality amenities raise the value of your home. A standard 60-inch bathtub might make your home more appealing but a full jacuzzi bathtub will raise the value even higher.
Smart bathroom fixtures are far more valuable than standard ones. See my post on the 9 coolest smart bathroom ideas for this year.
Even the quality of your shower can affect the value of your bathroom. Glass-framed showers tend to be more valuable than simple curtain rod showers.
Consider installing some of these higher-end features if you want to increase the value of your bathroom.
Added Storage
Just like everywhere else in a home, buyers look for storage space in the bathroom. More cabinets, drawers, a medicine cabinet, or an overhead rack can increase the overall value of your home by providing more space for occupants to store towels, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
Cabinet installations are relatively inexpensive home improvement projects yet they can make your home more appealing and also increase the value by a few percentage points.
Flooring
Changing out bathroom flooring tiles is one of the cheapest ways to increase the value of your home’s bathrooms.
Whether you prefer intricate tiles or more neutral vinyl flooring, you’ll only spend around $5 for every square foot.
Considering that most bathrooms are small compared to other rooms, you will likely be able to refloor your entire bathroom for around $300-$400. (source)
If you really want to increase the value of your bathroom, spend a little more and invest in heated flooring tiles.
Heated flooring will set you back around $12 per square foot but buyers will be far more interested in a bathroom with heated floors, especially if you live in a colder climate.
Understanding Your Housing Appraisal
After having your home appraised, you’ll receive a full report detailing how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and living areas you have.
You may be surprised at what you see and assume that the appraiser incorrectly wrote the number of bathrooms. For example, you may see something like 2.1 bathrooms. Yet, if bathrooms are ranked as either half, three-quarter, or full, how can this be?
Your appraiser didn’t make a mistake. Bathrooms might be classed as half, three-quarters, and full but that decimal isn’t actually a decimal. Instead, it’s a divider.
That 2.1 bathrooms on your housing appraisal doesn’t mean you have 2 and 1/10 of a bathroom. Instead, it means you have 2 full bathrooms (toilet, sink, and shower/bath) and 1 half bathroom (toilet and sink or just a shower room).
Example – 3.3 Bathrooms on a Home Appraisal
The two bathroom numbers on a home appraisal indicate how many full and half bathrooms you have. The first number shows the number of full bathrooms while the second number indicates how many half bathrooms you have.
Therefore, a home appraised to have 3.3 bathrooms has 3 full bathrooms (with a flushing toilet, sink, and shower or bathtub) and 3 half bathrooms (with either a flushing toilet and sink or a shower or tub).
Do Realty Listings Use the Same Format?
This is where things get complicated. Although home appraisers use decimal points to divide full and half bathrooms, the general public still thinks of full and half bathrooms as pure fractions. Therefore, your realtor is more likely to list your half bathroom as ½ or 0.5.
When you finally list your home on the market, you may prefer sticking to the standard 0.5 format simply because buyers will understand it more easily.
Yet, where does this leave one-quarter and three-quarter bathrooms? It wouldn’t make sense to list your home as a 1.5-bathroom home if it only has two ¾ bathrooms.
The general rule is to only use this format if your home has purely full and half bathrooms.
If you have a quarter or three-quarter bathrooms, treat them like half and full bathrooms, respectively. You can then give more information in the home description or leave it to your realtor to inform potential buyers.
What’s the Exact Dollar Value of a Bathroom?
Although the National Association of Home Builders was able to calculate that percentage value a bathroom can add, the total dollar amount depends on where you live, the type of property you live in, and the overall size and age of your property.
That being said, though, the American Housing Survey divides the country into four census regions that can affect the total dollar amount of your home’s value—the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.
Homes in the West (particularly California) and Northeast (particularly New England) tend to be more expensive. Therefore, bathrooms make up a higher dollar value in these regions.
Additionally, your home’s urban status can affect the exact dollar value of a bathroom. Homes built-in central city areas are valued much higher than suburban and non-metro homes. Therefore, a half or full bathroom would translate to a much higher dollar amount in a city than it would in a country home.
Keep this in mind if you plan to renovate your bathroom.
So What Is a Bathroom Worth on Appraisal?
Bathrooms make up a large chunk of your home’s overall value. On appraisal, a bathroom will account for roughly 10% to 20% of your home’s total valuation.
You can increase the value of your home by building a new bathroom or installing higher-quality amenities. That being said, though, the exact dollar payoff will depend on where you live and your home’s urban status.
If you’d like designer hacks for saving (literally!) thousands of dollars on a bathroom remodel, fill out the form below and I’ll send the Save Big $$$ Cheat Sheet straight to your inbox.
Tags: 1/2 bath, 1/4 bath, 3/4 bath, appraisal, full bath, renovation, resale, value
